According to a press release from the Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, the operation that facilitated the discovery and return of the letter, which was printed in April 1493, began in 2012 and was in charge of a working group from that specialized police force.

Brigadier General Vincenzo Molinese pointed out during the ceremony for the return of this document of great historical and cultural value that the letter was in the possession of a private collector in the United States, who purchased it for 1.5 million dollars.

The eight-page letter was written in Latin under the title “Insulis Indiae supra Gangem nuper inventis” (The islands of India beyond the Ganges, recently discovered).

The Spanish King and Queen sent Columbus’s letter to Rome and translated it into Latin, It was reproduced in the house of printer Stephan Planck later, and then distributed throughout Europe. Only 16 copies of the letter exist in the world.

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