Italy's 'priceless' looted artefacts return home from U.S.

Record ID: 1707820

  • Title: Italy's 'priceless' looted artefacts return home from U.S.
  • Date: 23rd January 2023
  • Summary: ROME, ITALY (JANUARY 23, 2023) (REUTERS) COMMANDER OF CARABINIERI TPC GENERAL VINCENZO MOLINESE TALKING TO MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) COMMANDER OF CARABINIERI TPC GENERAL VINCENZO MOLINESE SAYING: ''In my opinion, this is an invaluable achievement. The quantification of the assets that have become part of our cultural and national heritage is a commercial quantification,
  • Embargoed: 6th February 2023 14:28
  • Keywords: Antiquities Italy MOMA Rome USA ancient objects artefacts looted returned
  • Location: ROME, ITALY
  • City: ROME, ITALY
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: Art,Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Europe
  • Reuters ID: LVA003445923012023RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:Italy on Monday (Monday 23) celebrated the return of 60 looted archaeological artefacts worth more than $20 million, many of which had been on display at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art before their illicit origin was discovered.
    The items, which U.S. authorities handed over to Italian counterparts in September, include the marble head of Athena, worth an estimated $3 million, and a fresco stolen from Herculaneum, an ancient Roman city near Pompeii.
    Aside from their commercial value, the recovered artworks are of "priceless importance" for Italy's historic, artistic and cultural identity, the head of the Carabinieri police art squad, General Vincenzo Molinese, said in a press conference.
    In September, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office had said the antiquities had been sold by convicted looters, and some had ended up in the collection of billionaire hedge fund manager Michael Steinhardt.
    Italy has long had a problem with the looting and smuggling of its artistic and archaeological heritage, but the Carabinieri insist they are becoming more effective in tracking down and recovering stolen art.
    To showcase their efforts, a so-called Museum of Rescued Art was inaugurated last year in Rome, putting on display dozens of statues, jars, urns, plates, and coins in a section of the Baths of Diocletian, once the Roman empire's largest spa.
    (Production: Cristiano Corvino, Oriana Boselli)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2023. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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