Roughly 600 antiquities, valued at $80 million, were returned to Italy by the United States.
The artifacts trickled into U.S. museums, galleries and private collections through illegal excavations and looting.
Coins, mosaics, manuscripts, and statues dating from the 9th century BC through 100 AD have been returned, as well as several oil paintings from the 16th to 19th centuries.
A Naxos silver coin from the 4th century, which features the face of Dionysius, was stolen from an excavation site in Sicily, before being sold in the UK for $500,000 a decade ago. The coveted silver coin was tracked down in New York last year.
Italy’s Culture Ministry and the Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage stated that many of the items could be connected with well-documented art thefts and “tombaroli,” or tomb raids.
Antique dealers often forged provenance records in order to sell the art and artifacts to auction houses and private buyers.
The return of the stolen art was handled by the Antiquities Trafficking Unit in Manhattan’s district attorney’s office.
Make a Pledge and join Italian Sons and Daughters of America today.
