{"id":6316,"date":"2023-05-30T08:48:43","date_gmt":"2023-05-30T12:48:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/?p=6316"},"modified":"2023-05-30T08:48:45","modified_gmt":"2023-05-30T12:48:45","slug":"an-ancient-fresco-is-among-60-treasures-the-u-s-is-returning-to-italy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/2023\/05\/30\/an-ancient-fresco-is-among-60-treasures-the-u-s-is-returning-to-italy\/","title":{"rendered":"An ancient fresco is among 60 treasures the U.S. is returning to Italy"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0The Associated Press ROME \u2014<\/em><\/strong> A fresco depicting Hercules and originally from Herculaneum, a city destroyed along with Pompeii by the 79 A.D. eruption of Mount Vesuvius, was back in Italy Monday, along with 59 other ancient pieces illegally trafficked to the United States.<\/p>

Last summer, U.S. authorities announced that the fresco and dozens of other trafficked objects, which ended up in private collections in the United States, would go back to Italy.<\/p>

Among the more precious pieces Italian and U.S. officials displayed to journalists in Rome is a B.C. kylix, or shallow two-handled drinking vessel, some 2,600 years old. Also returned is a sculpted marble head, from the 2nd century B.C., depicting the goddess Athena.<\/p>

Italy said the returned works are worth more than $20 million (18 million euros) overall.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>

The fresco, done in the classic style of Pompeiian art, depicts Hercules as a child strangling a snake.<\/p>

The returned pieces had been sold by art dealers, ended up in private U.S. collections and lacked documentation to prove they could be legally brought abroad from Italy.<\/p>

Under a 1909 Italian law, archaeological objects excavated in Italy cannot leave the country without permission unless they were taken abroad before the law was made.<\/p>

Among those at Monday’s presentation was Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Matthew Bogdanos, chief of that office’s unit combatting illicit trafficking in antiquities. On this investigation, his office worked jointly with a specialized art squad branch of Italy’s paramilitary Carabinieri.<\/p>

“For Italian antiquities alone we have executed 75 raids, recovered more than 500 priceless treasures valued at more than $55 million,” Bogdanos said.<\/p>

\"\"
A Pompeiian style fresco from Herculaneum titled “Young Hercules and the snake”, dated to the I second A.C., is seen on display among other archaeological artifacts stolen from Italy and sold in the U.S. by international art traffickers, during a press conference in Rome, Monday, Jan. 23, 2023.
Andrew Medichini\/AP<\/em><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>
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A fresco depicting Hercules and originally from Herculaneum, a city destroyed along with Pompeii by the 79 A.D. eruption of Mount Vesuvius, was back in Italy Monday, along with 59 other ancient pieces illegally trafficked to the United States.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6318,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1388,1386,1387],"class_list":{"0":"post-6316","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-italy-cultural-heritage","9":"tag-stolen-ancient-fresco","10":"tag-treasures-returned"},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t