Picasso painted little guitar found in Italian shoe box - reports

A small wooden guitar painted by Pablo Picasso for his daughter Paloma has been found in a shoe box in the apartment of an Italian businessman in Pomezia, near Rome, according to Italian media.

The Spanish artist many years ago had given the little guitar, painted yellow, gray and black, to his friend, Italian artist Giuseppe Vittorio Parisi, media reports said.

Mr Parisi at age 92 was convinced to hand over the little guitar to an Italian businessman and amateur artist who had promised to put it in a glass case to preserve it. But from that day the Picasso painted guitar has not been seen.

After Parisi's death earlier this year, his widow Wanda had asked police to try to find the famous guitar. Investigators finally uncovered it in the apartment of the businessman with whom Mr Parisi had entrusted the object.

The little guitar is now destined for the contemporary art museum in Maccagno, the owner's home town located on Lake Maggiore in northern Italy.