Italy celebrates the repatriation of over 200 artifacts that were sold to American collectors and stolen by "tomb raiders"

Italy has hailed the repatriation of 266 artifacts from the US that police had determined were stolen and were worth tens of millions of dollars.

The antiquities are worth tens of millions of euros.

Ancient Roman coins, mosaics, and Etruscan vases were among the looted items that were sold to US museums and private collectors.

According to officials, among the returned goods are relics that were just recently taken into custody in New York from a storage facility owned by British antiquities merchant Robin Symes.

The shipment that made it to Rome also contained 65 items that a collector had offered to donate to the Menil Collection in Houston but had been rejected.

According to a carabinieri statement, the owner of the collection "spontaneously" returned the artefacts after it was discovered they came from illegal excavations of ancient sites. The art unit of Italy's Carabinieri paramilitary police made the claim.

Italy has been conducting an extensive search for artifacts that were stolen from tombs by "tombaroli," or tomb raiders, and then sold to private buyers and museums in the US and other countries.

Art dealers participated in the theft operations and either sold the stolen goods outright or at auction.

At the offices of Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg on Tuesday, some of the objects were turned over to Italian authorities.

The Apulian krater, or vase, which dates to 335 BC and was taken in July from a private collection in New York, according to Mr. Bragg's office, was among them.

According to Bragg's office, the vase had been photographed and was part of the well-known Polaroid "archive" of dealer Giacomo Medici, who sent it to Mr. Symes, who allegedly "laundered the piece through Sotheby's London."

Two 440 BC Etruscan tile murals from Cerveteri, a frequently vandalized necropolis site northwest of Rome, were among the other pieces.

The tiles, according to Mr. Bragg's office, were stolen in the 1980s and found their way to Mr. Symes, who in 1992 sold them for $1.6 million (£1.26 million) to renowned New York collectors Shelby White and Leon Levy.

A vase, dating from 335 BC, was seized in July from a private collection in New York.

Before 1999, the couple gave Mr. Symes back the tiles "after questions about their illicit origins were raised by multiple scholars," according to the statement.

Until they were taken in March, the items were still in Mr. Symes' New York storage container.

The 266 pieces would be worth tens of millions of euros on the open market, according to the Italian police art squad.

The Symes treasures are in addition to 750 objects that were owned by Mr. Symes' London-based Symes Ltd., which is in the process of being liquidated, and were displayed in Italy on May 31, 2023.