Naples Welcomes Exhibition of Ancient Stolen and Looted Artifacts
The National Archaeological Museum of Naples is showcasing 600 recovered objects, which date to between the Archaic period and the Middle Ages.
For more than half a century, a specialized Italian police unit has been confiscating valuable artifacts from the black market. Some 15,000 recovered items are housed at the National Archaeological Museum of Naples—and now, the museum is displaying 600 of them for the first time.
Titled “Treasures Rediscovered: Stories of Crime and Stolen Artifacts,” the exhibition focuses not only on ancient artworks, but also on the “often complex dynamic” of illegal trafficking that brought these items to the museum, according to a statement.
“It is a beautiful exhibition that tells a beautiful story, a story also of redemption for our stolen archaeological artifacts, which often find their way into private property or even international museums,” exhibition co-curator Massimo Osanna, director of national museums at Italy’s culture ministry, tells the Associated Press’ Francesco Sportelli. “Thanks to the work of the public prosecutor’s office and the police, together with the ministry, [these artifacts] are finally coming home and to light.”
Strict laws govern the ownership of archaeological artifacts in Italy. Looting has been happening for centuries, but today’s criminals have turned to advanced technologies—including sonar, drones and underwater metal detectors—to pluck treasure from shipwrecks and other ancient sites beneath the Mediterranean Sea, per the AP.
The exhibition begins with a history of collecting, which has long fueled illegal excavations and trafficking. Visitors learn about international markets and law enforcement, important court cases and the stories of looted items that haven’t yet been recovered.
Artifacts on view include coins, marbles, bronzes, weapons, armor and pottery. They come from all over southern Italy, and they date to between the Archaic period (roughly 650 to 480 B.C.E.) and the Middle Ages.
The show highlights several stories of illegal exchange: In one case, a man from Naples used archaeological finds to pay his pharmacist. In another, a French archaeologist bought sculptures from the ancient city of Pompeii off a local farmer for the equivalent of about $28. Three frescoed slabs from a fourth-century B.C.E. tomb were found in the private collection of 20th-century opera singer Maria Callas.
Also on display are “the classic tools of grave robbers, spilloni [soil probes] through which gravediggers pierce the ground,” says Pierpaolo Filippelli, deputy prosecutor of the Naples prosecutor’s office, in an AP video, per a translation by Euronews. “But today, art traffickers operate on a more advanced level, using tools like the dark web to sell stolen works.”
According to the statement, the exhibition is a “journey of collective memory” that highlights the importance of protecting cultural heritage. The Italian police’s cultural heritage protection command recovered over 100,000 artifacts in 2023 (the most recent year with available documentation), as the AP reports. Officials estimate that the haul is worth about $299 million.
