The United States returns a huge amount of stolen artifacts to Italy

The United States has returned more than 250 ancient artifacts to Italy after police discovered they were stolen.

The Italian police art unit found that art pieces were looted and sold to US museums and private collectors in the 1990s.

Among the precious artifacts are pots, paintings, and sculptures – some of which are up to 3,000 years old.

Many of the mosaics are worth tens of millions of euros.

The oldest item dates back to the Villanovan era (1000-750 BC), while other artifacts are from the Etruscan civilization (800-200 BC), Magna Graecia (750-400 BC) and Imperial Rome (27 BC-476 AD) .

Most of the artifacts were stolen in the 1990s, then sold through a series of dealers with apparently one selection on display for Menil’s collection, a museum in Houston, Texas.

The spokesperson said the museum was offered the artifacts as a gift, but instead referred the donor to Italy’s Ministry of Culture.

The ministry said the collection was returned “spontaneously” by the owner after police discovered it came from illegal excavations at archaeological sites.

Separately, the department said 145 of the returned artifacts came from a bankruptcy proceeding against an English antiques dealer, Robin Sims, who had collected thousands of items as part of a network of illegal dealers.

Italy has long sought to track down antiques and antiques that have been stolen and sold to private collectors and museums.

In September 2022, New York returned to Italy $19m (£16m) worth of stolen artwork, including a marble head of the goddess Athena dating back to 200 BC, with an estimated value of just $3m.