Trafficking in Antiquities—Italian Arrests

Demonstrating just how seriously Italy takes the protection of its cultural artifacts, its elite Carabinieri police arrested five Italian individuals after hundreds of smuggled artifacts were found in an 82-year-old Austrian tour guide’s Austrian home.^[1] The police are also investigating the tour guide along with 28 other people.^[2]

The Austrian is believed to have smuggled the objects from “clandestine” excavations near Rome while he worked for many years as a guide to archaeological sites in Italy.^[3] He is known as “Mozart” in the art trafficking world, and because of his age, he was merely issued a citation rather than being arrested.^[4]

Nearly 600 artifacts found in his home date from between the 8th century B.C. and the 5th century A.D., and among the artifacts are jewelry, statues, and vases.^[5] The exact economic value of the recovered artifacts is unknown, but according to one archaeologist, just one of the recovered artifacts, a Corinthian cup, was worth several thousand US dollars.

The Italians who were arrested have records as “’tombaroli,’—grave robbers who work often unguarded fields in Etruscan and other areas rich in artifacts.”^[6]

We have discussed some of Italy’s attempts to retrieve its artifacts from the J. Paul Getty Museum, here.

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[1] Marta Falconi, Italian Police Arrest Five, Recover Hundreds of Artifacts in Crackdown on Art Trafficking, Associated Press, Oct. 7, 2005, not readily available online.
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] Id.