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Archaeological treasure from the 1st century BC returns to Italy
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On 20 January 2021, the Belgian authorities handed over to the Italian Carabinieri Commando a Roman statue of a man in a toga (a togatus), dating from the 1st century BC. Having been stolen in Rome in 2011 and put up for sale in Brussels, the Belgian Economic Inspectorate's investigation showed that the statue had been deposited there by a foreign national known to the Italian authorities responsible for combating trafficking in cultural goods.
According to the spokesman for the Ministry of the Economy, the seizure of the statue is the first in a series of investigations into art market fraud currently being carried out by the Brussels judicial authorities. This restitution bears witness to the commitment of the Belgian authorities in combating the phenomenon of illicit trafficking in cultural properties, and to the close cooperation between Belgium and Italy.
