Italy Recovers Looted Sabina Chariot and Five Domenico da Tolmezzo Sculptures

Italy has secured two major recoveries of looted archaeological and artistic heritage. The Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen has signed a cooperation agreement with the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage to return a series of archaeological artifacts illegally excavated and exported from Italy since the 1970s. Among them is the famous Carro di Fara Sabina, a princely chariot from a Sabine tomb, whose restitution will begin in December 2016 and be completed by 2017. The agreement also includes long-term loans of significant sepulchral finds from Italy for rotation in the museum's upcoming radical reinstallation of its antiquities collection. Separately, in Udine, Minister Dario Franceschini inaugurated the new nucleus of the Comando Tutela Patrimonio Culturale (Carabinieri Cultural Heritage Protection Command) and handed over five polychrome and gilded wood sculptures by Domenico da Tolmezzo, dating from 1484, depicting Saints James the Greater, Paul, Thomas, Matthew, and Andrew. These works were stolen in 1981 from the church of San Pietro in Carnia in Zuglio and recently recovered by the CCTPC.