Italian state had lost track of Botticelli work valued at €100 million.

A painting by Renaissance master Sandro Botticelli, said to have been missing from state records for 50 years, has been recovered from a private home in the Naples area of Italy.

The newly resurfaced painting of the Madonna and Child is in very poor condition and will undergo a delicate, year-long restoration overseen by the Italian culture ministry.

The artwork, valued at around €100 million, was reportedly handed over voluntarily to the Naples branch of the Carabineri unit for protection of Italy's cultural heritage.

Botticelli, the Florentine artist famed for La Primavera and Birth of Venus, is believed to have painted the artwork in the late 15th century.

The painting was originally housed in a church in Santa Maria la Carità, a town near Naples, but some time after the turn of the 20th century was entrusted to a family in nearby Gragnano.

The canvas was listed by the Italian state in 1931, a move confirmed in 1968, before it slipped off the radar and fell into disrepair.

Authorities are investigating whether in fact the work belongs to the family, who handed it down from generation to generation, or to the state.

The painting is expected to go on public display in Naples following an extensive programme of restoration and studies.