Naples Museum Unveils Over 600 Stolen Ancient Artefacts Recovered from Traffickers 🏺

Looted from tombs, trafficked across borders, hidden in homes, museums, and even bathtubs — over 600 stolen archaeological artefacts from Italy have finally been unveiled to the public in Naples.

For decades, these objects — spanning from the Archaic period to the Middle Ages — were kept in storage as evidence in criminal investigations. Now, thanks to the work of Italy’s art crimes police — a special unit of the national police known as the Carabinieri — prosecutors, and museum curators, they’re on display in Rediscovered Treasures: Stories of Crime and Stolen Artefacts at the National Archaeological Museum of Naples.

Among them: red-figure vases returned from the Getty Museum, a rare bronze statue of Emperor Philip ‘the Arab,’ coins from across the Greek, Roman and medieval worlds, and frescoes once owned by Maria Callas. Each object was seized from smugglers, collectors, or looters — some even exchanged for psychotropic drugs or sold for the modern equivalent of €25.

Visitors can explore the exhibition through 30 September 2025.

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