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New York returns 200 stolen antiquities to Italy

A New York prosecutor announced Wednesday the return of 200 antiquities valued at $10 million to Italy, the latest stolen artworks to be recovered by United States investigators.

Published: 16 December 2021 17:06 CET
Roman vases at the Altes Museum in Berlin.
Roman vases at the Altes Museum in Berlin. Photo: Gary Todd/Flickr

The works include a ceramic vessel dated from the 7th Century BCE called “Pithos with Ulysses” and a terracotta image of a goddess entitled “A Head of a Maiden” from the 4th Century BCE.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said 150 of the artifacts related to his office’s investigation into Edoardo Almagia.

He was an Italian New York-based antiquities dealer who left the United States in 2003.

Vance said Almagia was investigated in Italy for trafficking and selling looted artifacts to US buyers but remains at large.

Vance added that 100 of the returned artworks had been seized from the Fordham Museum of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Art in New York.

This latest batch of returned antiquities represents just some of the stolen artefacts the US has restored to Italy in recent years.

In 2017, US officials returned artefacts worth at least $90,000, dating back as far as the 8th century BC, that had been stolen in the 1990s from burial sites and places of archaeological significance in Italy and smuggled overseas.

READ ALSO: The US just returned $90,000 worth of stolen artefacts to Italy

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance ordered that the stolen items be returned to Italy.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance ordered that the stolen items be returned to Italy. Bryan R. Smith / AFP

The items included a Sardinian bronze ox and Sardinian bronze warrior from the 8th century BC, a Greek bronze Heracles from the 3rd or 4th century BC and a 4th-century BC drinking cup depicting two goats butting heads.

In 2018, three stolen items were returned to Italy from the US after Italian Carabinieri officers from the country’s famous ‘art squad’ or cultural heritage unit saw that they had been listed for sale by a New York auction house.

The ancient Greek items – a wine carafe, a decanter for precious oils and a soup tureen – had been illegally dug out of an archaeological site in Italy and smuggled into America.

Speaking at a 2018 ‘repatriation ceremony’ held at the headquarters of the Italian Embassy in Washington, DC, where the artefacts were formally returned to the Italian government, Italy’s then-culture minister said the government planned to crack down on such crimes.

READ ALSO: Italy to crack down on art crime after stolen artefacts recovered in USA

Since August 2020, the New York district attorney’s office has returned more than 70 antiquities to 14 countries, including almost 30 relics to Cambodia, 100 artifacts to Pakistan, and almost 250 items to India.

Earlier this month, Vance announced that prominent US art collector and billionaire philanthropist Michael Steinhardt had returned 180 works of art and antiquities stolen from around the world – some from ancient Greece – that are estimated to be worth $70 million.

The move allowed the 80-year-old  to avoid indictment and trial for the time being, but bans him for life from acquiring antiques on the legal art market.

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CRIME

REVEALED: Where in Italy you’re most likely to be a victim of crime

From theft and home burglary to cyber fraud and extortion, the latest figures reveal where in Italy you are most likely to fall victim to crime and the most common types of offences in major cities around the country.

Published: 17 September 2024 11:15 CEST
REVEALED: Where in Italy you're most likely to be a victim of crime

While Italy is among the safest countries in the world – it ranked 33rd out of 163 in the latest Global Peace Index report, right above the UK – crime is still a concern, especially in metropolitan cities and tourist hotspots.

According to the annual crime report from newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, which collated the most recent data from Italy’s Department of Public Security, Milan was the Italian city with the highest crime rate in 2023.

Overall, some 230,394 crimes were reported in the northern metropolis last year, which corresponded to 7,094 offences for every 100,000 residents.

Milan was followed by Italy’s capital, Rome, with 6,071 reported crimes for every 100,000 residents (up by nearly 600 compared to 2022) and Florence, with 6,053.

The top ten was completed by Rimini (6,002 reports for every 100,000 residents), Turin (5,685), Bologna (5,539), Prato (4,887), Imperia (4,838), Venice (4,825) and Livorno (4,743).

At the other end of the spectrum, Oristano, Sardinia, was the Italian city with the lowest crime rate in 2023 as it ‘only’ saw 1,511 offences for every 100,000 residents. 

Oristano was followed by Potenza, Basilicata (1,934) and Treviso, Veneto (2,258).

Single-offence rankings

While the overall crime rate ranking provides a picture of Italy’s major crime hotspots, it doesn’t allow for any insight into the types of offences committed locally, which is why it is worth looking into single-offence rankings. 

Milan, Rome and Rimini (a popular seaside resort on Emilia Romagna’s Adriatic coast) were the Italian cities with the highest theft rates in 2023, with the northern city registering nearly 3,900 reported thefts (furti) for every 100,000 residents and the capital stopping just shy of the 3,500 mark.

Milan was also Italy’s least-safe city when it came to petty theft and pickpocketing, with over 900 such offences reported for every 100,000 residents.

READ ALSO: How bad is pickpocketing in Italy’s major cities?

Florence was the Italian city with the highest robbery rate (rapine), with 136 offences for every 100,000 residents. 

The Tuscan city was followed by Milan (128) and Prato (124).

Outside of big cities and popular tourist destinations, a number of smaller and, perhaps, slightly unassuming Italian cities had their own crime ‘specialisations’ in 2023. 

For instance, Ragusa, Sicily, ranked first in vehicle theft, while Pisa, Tuscany, came in first in reported home burglary offences.

Trieste, Friuli Venezia Giulia, had the highest sexual assault rate (24 reports for every 100,000 residents) in the country, whereas Crotone ranked first for attempted murder.

READ ALSO: The 8 red flags to look out for to avoid rental scams in Italy

Turin came in first for cyber fraud and online scams, while Isernia, Molise, was Italy’s extortion capital. 

National picture

At a national level, reported crimes were up by 3.8 percent compared to 2022, with online fraud and robbery registering 10.3- and 9.5-percent increases respectively. 

Assault offences also registered a 3.1-percent year-on-year increase, while there were 341 murders in 2023 – up by 13 against 2019. 

According to Marco Dugato, a researcher at the Crime Observatory of Milan’s Cattolica University, the latest increases “must be monitored, particularly for certain types of crime”.

In particular, “the rise of more impulsive, less planned, but more aggressive forms of criminal activity” such as assault and robbery “is of concern”. 

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