A large red jar with a representation of Ulysses and the Cyclops Polyphemus contains a secret. Coming from around present-day Cerveteri, north of Rome, the vessel, from the 7th century BC, contains the oldest Etruscan painting of this episode. Not only does the fascination of this ancient people for Homer’s epic poem count, but also the interpretation that the Etruscans made of Polyphemus, who was not seen as a savage as in the Odyssey but as a kind of aristocrat.
This treasure is part of the hundred pieces that are already exhibited in the latest museum that has been born in Rome, of great originality: the Museum of Salvated Art. A new space that exhibits finds, stolen or lost objects that Italy has recovered to enrich its cultural heritage. The objective is to show Romans and tourists the tireless work of the Italian body of the Carabinieri Heritage Protection unit to find works of art and archaeological remains looted by thieves and unscrupulous dealers and return them to their country. The body has so much experience that even Italy has created the blue helmets of culture, a new operational force hand in hand with UNESCO.
Located in the Planetarium of the Baths of Diocletian, a spherical room in the largest complex of public baths in ancient Rome, the museum will not have a fixed collection. Only traveling shows. Once they are exhibited for a few months – this time, until mid-October – the works will return to the museums of the Italian territory of origin, from where they should never have left. Then, it will be the turn of a new exhibition with more saved art. And, meanwhile, the Ministry of Culture will assign the pieces to their next destinations and will study their archaeological and artistic importance.
“We have to make exhibitions for twenty years,” General Roberto Riccardi, commander of a body that since it was founded in 1969 has recovered more than three million stolen or missing pieces, tells La Vanguardia. “We believe that the correct thing is that they return to the place from which they were stolen,” assured the Italian Minister of Culture, Dario Franceschini, during the presentation.
The works in the first collection are part of a set of ceramics and terracotta objects from pre-Roman, Etruscan and Magna Graecia cultures, Hellenic colonies in the south of the peninsula and in Sicily, which were returned to Italy from the USA. in 2021 after a series of investigations that forced large auction houses, private collectors or museums to hand over their works. For example, the Polyphemus pot had been bought by the Getty Museum in Malibu, which had no choice but to return it. “In the United States there is a great demand for the antique dealer market”, indicates the general. Most of the exhibits will soon return to the new archaeological park of Cerveteri, in the case of the Etruscans, or to those of Taranto, in southern Italy.
On other occasions these archaeological remains appear in the most unexpected places. Like in the Californian mansion of Kim Kardashian. “It is common for the pieces to be destined for celebrities,” says Riccardi. In this recent case it was a Roman bust chosen by the decorator of the socialite who was warned by the US customs department. Indeed, he had been plundered from Italy.
The tradition of desecrating tombs was started by the ancient Romans, who used to melt down the metals they found in the burial places of other conquered peoples to forge their own weapons. But in this case, they are mostly pieces stolen by expert thieves in clandestine excavations between 1960 and 1980. Although the looters do not know their importance, the art dealers do have a perfect knowledge of archaeology, of their centuries of origin and its high economic value. Some of the pre-Roman pieces in the new museum are valued at several hundred thousand euros. They are even able to sell them to renowned museums or avid private collectors.
Like a Belgian fan who last year was hunted with 782 archaeological objects from Apulia, in southern Italy, with a commercial value of 11 million euros. They found him by chance: the carabinieri were after one particular Daunia stele, a funerary monument carved in ancient Daunia in the 7th-6th centuries BC, and when they got permission to search his home they were surprised with a real booty.
It happens throughout an entire country, especially in the center and south, where there are still many areas underground. Pompeii has 44 hectares already excavated, but another 22 of land remain to come to light. Pompeii itself has been badly looted, including by innocent tourists who in recent years are returning stolen items with notes of repentance. Many speak of true curses: they believe that with redemption they will end the bad luck that has accompanied them throughout time.
A saved art that, however, is also a “wounded art”, regrets the director of the National Roman Museum, Stéphane Verger, responsible for this new center. “For archaeology, if objects that have been stolen from a tomb are recovered, it is a shame, because we have lost all the documentation on the context of the discovery, which for us is practically half its value,” he maintains. “That’s why it’s also an educational museum, because it shows how much is lost with clandestine excavations.” In some cases, even now they have not found out where they came from and it will be very difficult for them to allocate a new destination for these collections. And, of course, its authenticity can also raise doubts. It is not ruled out that some of the recovered objects are copies or partial forgeries.
The saved art that will be exhibited in the Baths of Diocletian will not be limited only to archaeological remains, but the definition is much broader and includes, for example, the works of art that Nazi officials took during the Second World War or the rescued from earthquakes or natural disasters.
Italy, with this body of experts in recovering lost art, also wants to inspire other countries to make the gesture of restoring culture to the peoples of origin. For this reason, a few weeks ago, Rome returned to Athens a fragment of the Parthenon frieze that was in an archaeological museum in Sicily. It was the so-called Fagan, a fragment of Pentelic marble that represents the foot of the goddess Peitho or Artemis seated on the throne, bought by the University of Palermo at the beginning of the 19th century.
The hope is that others will do the same. A case that Rome has dragged with regret for decades is the Fano Athlete, a Greek bronze sculpture attributed to Lysippus that is also in the Getty in Malibu. The statue was found in the middle of the Adriatic by some Italian fishermen in 1964. It passed through a few other hands until the Getty bought it for four million dollars in 1977. The Italian government has been demanding the restitution of the bronze since 1989, and even a The 2018 Supreme Court ruling underlined that Italy has a legal right to this statue. Instead, the Californian museum defends that it was found in international waters and that Italy has no more right than others because it was Italian fishermen who found it.
Another especially sought-after work is Caravaggio’s The Nativity, stolen in 1969 by the mafia from a parish in the center of Palermo. Today it would be worth about 20 million euros. It was also very precious, but for its sentimental value, a beautiful watch stolen from the Quirinal Palace, seat of the presidency of the Italian Republic. In 2020, the carabinieri found it in a collector’s house and gave it to President Sergio Mattarella for Christmas.
