Pesaro gip orders seizure of Lysippos' Athlete: Malibu's Getty must return it to Italy

TheAthlete of Fano, also known as theVictorious Athlete, is a bronze sculpture, dating back to the fourth century B.C., attributed to the Greek artist Lysippus: it was fished out of a fishing boat off the coast of Fano in 1964 and later illegally sold to the Getty Museum in Malibu, California. For years,Italy has been demanding its return and now, after many legal battles, the situation has changed.

According to Adnkronos, the credit is due to the Rai 1 program "Petrolio," which, in the episode “Thieves of Beauty” aired on Wednesday, June 6, reconstructed the entire history of the statue and aired an interview by presenter Duilio Giammaria with Getty director Timothy Potts. The Italian judiciary, then, acknowledged that the Fano Athlete was smuggled illegally from Italy and that the Getty Foundation, which had purchased it in 1977 for $4 million, was clear at the time of purchase that the provenance of the precious bronze was Italian, having been fished in territorial waters and belonging to the Italian state, and that therefore the work could not be sold. Pesaro’s Gip, Giacomo Gasparini, ordered the immediate seizure of the statue.

“For us it is a great pride,” declares Duilio Giammaria, journalist and host of “Petrolio,” who adds, "the judge’s decision ordering the confiscation of this unique work of art is the result of the joint work of all the Italian institutions that worked to achieve this result: the Carabinieri of the Nucleo Tutela del Patrimonio, led by General Fabrizio Parrulli, the MiBact, the ’Cento Città di Fano’ association, and lawyer Lorenzo D’Ascia of theAvvocatura di Stato, who together with the Pesaro Public Prosecutor’s Office defended Italian law on the sculpture. A success of the Italian system, to which we have contributed but which above all Rai with ’Petrolio’ has illuminated."
“We are overjoyed,” Giammaria concludes, “because this investigation was very challenging and was carried out with great attention to costs. But the most important thing is that for us this affair is the quintessence of public service. And it is the right answer to those who say that investigative journalism is finished. No, it is alive and well. Of course, you have to have the means to do it, and for that we thank Rai, which has put us in a position to bring home a program like this and contribute to a great result for Italy.”

In the photo, the Lysippus athlete. Ph. Credit Dave & Margie Hill

Pesaro gip orders seizure of Lysippos' Athlete: Malibu's Getty must return it to Italy

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