The archaeological park at Pompeii is celebrating the return of six Roman frescoes stolen from the ruins of ancient Roman villas have been returned to Pompeii’s archaeological park, after an investigation by Italy’s cultural protection police squad.
Three of the frescoes were removed in the 1970s from the walls of Villa Arianna and Villa San Marco in the ancient city of Stabiae. Police found the relics during a broader investigation into the illicit trafficking of archaeological objects in 2020 and discovered that they had been bought by American, Swiss and English antique dealers in the 1990s.
The frescoes date to the first century C.E. and feature a variety of motifs. One panel from Villa Arianna depicts a dancing woman holding a tray. A second from the same location shows a flute-playing cherub under a pavilion decorated with plants and two griffin statues. A piece from Villa San Marco features a woman’s face on a dark background with a wreath of laurel leaves.
The other three frescoes was found in Civita Giuliana, a rural villa north of Pompeii. The police discovered them in 2012 after they foiled an illegal dig. The villa in Civita Giuliana was where the remains of two victims of the AD79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius were found last year. Excavations on the villa began in 2017, but before then thieves had been able to tunnel into the site to steal relics.
In 2020, archaeologists at Civita Giuliana uncovered a stable with the remains of three horses and a four-wheeled ceremonial chariot, as well as two intact victims of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.
Gabriel Zuchtriegel, who took over as director of Pompeii’s archaeological park in February, replacing Massimo Osanna, who is now director-general of museums at the Italian culture ministry, said: “Collaboration with the authorities to combat illegal excavations and the illicit trafficking of archaeological finds, which began under Massimo Osanna, will be the ‘best practice’ that the park follows in the future.”
