In Italy from the United States 266 finds, worth millions of euros

2023-08-11 10:27:56

Time.news – They are coming back. They were officially returned to Italy on August 8th New Yorkbut materially land in the country of which they constitute identity heritage in a few hours, with a special flight.

I Carabinieri of the Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage they gave back to Italy with their investigations, taking them away from the United States where following the tortuous process of the illegal art trade, 266 archaeological finds of valuable value had landed, which are worth several tens of millions of euros on the world market of cultural assets of stealthy origin.

A heritage that embraces a time span that goes from age Villanoviana (IX/VIII sec a.C.)at the Etruscan civilization (7th/4th century BC)at the Magna Grecia (V/III sec. BC) until’Imperial Roman age (I-II century AD). Works of art and pieces of history that crossed the ocean in the last decades of the last century, sold by unscrupulous international traffickers.

The restitution is the exceptional result of extensive investigations coordinated by the Italian judiciary and the District Attorney’s Office of Manhattan (Dao – District Attorney’s Office of New York), with Assistant District Attorney Matthew Bogdanos and colleagues from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), ” consolidating a cooperation of incomparable effectiveness in the world, also thanks to the constant synergy”, reads a note, between the Carabinieri dell’Arte and the Dicastery of Culture, led by Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano.

In New York, the restitution in the prosecution office, between attorney Alvin L. Braggil Consul added of Italy in New York, Cesare Bielleril commander of the Carabinieri TPC, Brigadier General Vincenzo Molineseil deputy prosecutor of the Daoand it special agent in charge di Hsi, Ivan J. Arvelo.

Among the recovered works, 70 lots for a total of 145 pieces forming part of the bankruptcy procedure against the English citizen Robin Symes, located thanks to the investigations conducted by the Tpc Command, coordinated by the Rome prosecutor’s office, aimed at contrasting the international traffic of cultural goods.

The investigation then also resulted in an out-of-court procedure and a civil case, conducted in close collaboration with the Ministry of Culture through the State Attorney General, aimed at returning the assets to the unavailable patrimony of the Italian State.

Then there are the 65 artifacts, already in the collection at the Menil Collection Museum in Houston, an institution that spontaneously gave them back to the Ministry of Culture, after the soldiers of the specialized nucleus of the Arma demonstrated their origin from clandestine excavations in archaeological areas of the Italian territory and illicit export.