13/02/2001

According to recent statistics from the Carabinieri's Cultural Heritage Protection Unit, 30-50% of Italian stolen works of art, in particular archaeological items, winds their way onto the American market. To combat this the US and Italian governments (the Italian Minister of Cultural Heritage, headed by Giovanna Melandri) concluded a co-operative agreement on January 20th to stem this haemorrhage. Operating initially for 5 years, the Memorandum of Understanding, enables a more decisive control by the United States Customs division on objects included in a special list of “at risk” archaeological and fine art objects. Any object lacking a specific certificate issued by Italian authorities will now be barred from entering the United States and will be liable for immediate return. Although a UNESCO agreement in 1970 sought to limit the traffic of stolen works of art, the United States government has only recently accepted this mandate after an explicit request by the Italian Government in 1999. (Dorian Cara)