Carabinieri bring back to Italy two Roman sculptures stolen in 1985 in Santa Maria Capua Vetere

Important recovery by the Carabinieri of the Carabinieri Tutela Patrimonio Culturale Command, who bring back to Italy two important marble sculptures from the Roman era that were stolen in 1985: one depicting Emperor Septimius Severus (from the 3rd century AD) and one the god Dionysus (from the 2nd century AD). The recovery is the result of an investigative activity by the Archaeology Section of the Operational Department of the Carabinieri Tutela Patrimonio Culturale Command, in collaboration with the Data Processing Section and coordinated by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Santa Maria Capua Vetere.

The illicit misappropriation of his works dates back to November 18, 1985, when a robbery took place at theAntiquarium of the Amphitheater Campano in Santa Maria Capua Vetere (Caserta), during which numerous archaeological artifacts, of various kinds and types, were stolen, which, subsequently and under different circumstances, were recovered, with the exception of a marble sculpture depicting the goddess Diana and the two marble heads of Septimius Severus and Dionysus.

In 2016, during monitoring activities on the international art market, a suspicious sale was detected at a well-known auction house in New York. Comparison of the image of the identified work with the one contained in the Data Bank of Illicitly Misappropriated Cultural Property, managed by the Command, confirmed that the item in the suspect lot corresponded to the marble head depicting Dionysus, put up for sale with an auction base of $70,000 by a foreign collector, unaware of the illicit provenance of the asset. Of the discovery, the collateral U.S. Customs Service (Homeland Security Investigations - Immigration and Customs Enforcement in New York) was abruptly informed, providing all useful elements for the identification and claiming of the asset, and proceeded to secure the sculpture.

In the same manner, in 2019, the Carabinieri identified, in a lot at the same New York auction house, the marble head depicting Emperor Septimius Severus, offered for sale with a $600,000 auction base by a foreign collector, who was also unaware of the asset’s illicit provenance. In this case, Colonel Matthew Bogdanos, head of the Antiquities Trafficking Unit of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office-New York County, was informed, and was provided with all the elements needed to identify and claim the asset, which was then seized by U.S. authorities.

In June of this year, having exhausted all the procedures necessary to repatriate the works from the United States, both marble heads were returned to Italy. Today, thanks to the perseverance of the Carabinieri of the Comando Tutela Patrimonio Culturale and the collaboration consolidated over the years between the same Comando, the U.S. Federal and State Judicial and Police Authorities, in particular with the New York County District Attorney, as well as with the New York auction house, the two important works are returned to the community and relocated in their proper context.

Therefore, the “hunt” remains open for the last asset robbed in 1985 and still missing from the roll call, the goddess Diana, for which the search and efforts of the Carabinieri and the Santa Maria Capua Vetere Public Prosecutor’s Office to return it to public enjoyment continue. The works were displayed on July 11 at the Archaeological Museum of Ancient Capua in Santa Maria Capua Vetere.

Pictured: left, the head of Septimius Severus (200-211 A.D.; marble, height 30 cm); right, the bearded Dionysus with kalathos on his head (second half of the second century A.D., marble, height 29 cm)

Carabinieri bring back to Italy two Roman sculptures stolen in 1985 in Santa Maria Capua Vetere

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