Recovered Treasures: The Museum of Rescued Art

The Museum of Rescued Art was established in 2022 in the Octagonal Mall of the Baths of Diocletian (more known as the Planetarium) to showcase all the stages involved in the recovery of artworks: from investigations and cultural diplomacy to the return of masterpieces carried out by various institutions of the Italian Ministry of Culture.

Particularly significant is the work of the Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage.The Museum's exhibitions change according to the outcomes of investigative operations, international restitutions, and recoveries in areas affected by natural disasters. With each new exhibition, the previously displayed artifacts return to their places of origin.

Among the many works on display, there is a painted terracotta slab from Cerveteri (Etruria) depicting two young men and dating back to the last decades of the 6th century BC. It was recovered in 2023 through a joint operation with the Manhattan District Attorney's Office of New York County.

Thanks to the Italian Consulate in New York, an American collector agreed to return five theatrical marble masks dating back to the 1st century CE. Though their origin remains unknown, they are believed to have been illicitly excavated and illegally exported before 1995. There is also a detailed alabaster funerary urn with a depiction of the deceased on the lid and the Killing of Troilus on the body of the urn. It comes from the town of Pieve (province of Perugia) and dates to the late 3rd century BC. This artifact was recovered in October 2024 by the Operations Unit of the Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage and is currently under seizure.

Additionally, numerous restitutions have taken place thanks to cultural agreements signed between the Italian Ministry of Culture and various European and U.S. museums — including the 2023 agreement that enabled the return of four Apulian ceramic pieces. Among the most famous artifacts on display there are the silver objects from the so-called "Treasure of Morgantina" acquired by the MET Museum in New York between 1981 and 1984.

Alessia Motti