ART news

US RETURNS $10 MILLION OF LOOTED TREASURES TO ITALY

The US has returned 200 antiquities stolen from Italy, many of them linked to one Rome-based dealer, in a massive repatriation valued at $10 million. The Manhattan district attorney's office, which oversaw the operation, confiscated the artefacts from major museums and collections across the US. The trove, hailed as the largest single repatriation of relics from the US to Italy, included almost 100 items seized from the Fordham Museum of Greek, Etruscan and Roman Art, and an Etruscan ceramic vessel (dating to the seventh century BC) confiscated from the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. "For years, prestigious museums and private collectors across the US prominently displayed these Italian historical treasures even though their very presence in America constituted evidence of cultural heritage crimes” – said Manhattan district attorney Cy Vance – “The repatriation of this dazzling collection of ancient art begins to address some of the damage done by traffickers and shows the need for all collectors and gallery owners performing due diligence and ensuring pieces they purchased were lawfully acquired." Among the artefacts returned to Rome, 150 were seized following an investigation into the shady dealings of Edoardo Almagià, who is accused of trafficking ancient art from Italy, using tombaroli (tomb raiders) to loot and smuggle artefacts out of the country for more than three decades. Almagià, 70, relied on a “network of scholars, directors, and curators of the most important international museums” to place the objects, according to an expert’s findings adopted by an Italian court. Expired statutes of limitations have made it difficult for Italy to prosecute Almagià who lives in Rome and who has defended his dealings in Roman-era antiquities by claiming: "There are thousands of items that travel around the world without papers, and they are only asking for papers now, and in the past they never had such requirements."

FENDI RESTORES TEMPLE OF VENUS AND ROMA

The Temple of Venus and Roma, located in the Roman Forum opposite the Colosseum, has undergone a €2.5 million restoration sponsored by luxury fashion house Fendi. The results of the 15-month project were unveiled by the Colosseum archaeological park on 20 December. Fendi, which sponsored the €2 million restoration of the Trevi Fountain several years ago, staged a fashion show in the Roman temple in 2019 in tribute to its late creative director Karl Lagerfeld. Believed to have been the largest temple in ancient Rome, the Tempio di Venere e Roma was dedicated to the goddesses Venus Felix (Venus the Bringer of Good Fortune) and Roma Aeterna (Eternal Rome). Construction of the temple began in 121 under Emperor Hadrian and it was completed in 141.

The newly restored Temple of Venus and Roma.

RICHARD ROGERS DIES AGED 88

Sir Richard Rogers, the celebrated Italian-born British architect, died in London a week before Christmas aged 88. Born in Florence to an Anglo-Italian family in 1933, Rogers moved to England on the outbreak of world war two. After graduating from the Yale School of Architecture in 1962, Rogers set up an architectural practice in London with Norman Foster, Su Brumwell and Wendy Cheesman. He subsequently joined forced with Italian architect Renzo Piano with whom, alongside Gianfranco Franchini, he won the design competition for the landmark Pompidou Centre in 1971. In later years Rogers undertook other major projects including the 14-story Lloyd’s building and the Millennium Dome in London. After Rogers' death, Piano paid tribute to his former partner as "my big brother."

Andy Devane