ITALIAN ART POLICE RECOVER 60,OOO PIECES OF LOOTED OR STOLEN ARTWORKS

ANCIENT FRESCOES, STATUES AND DECORATED VASES THAT GRACED TABLES MORE THAN 2,000 YEARS AGO WERE AMONG TENS OF THOUSANDS OF ARTIFACTS RECOVERED LAST YEAR BY ITALY'S ART POLICE, OFFICIALS SAID RECENTLY. AUTHORITIES SAID THEY RECOVERED OR SEIZED NEARLY 60,OOO PIECES OF LOOTED OR STOLEN ARTWORK AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL ARTIFACTS WORTH MORE THAN $239 MILLION IN 2009. POLICE FIGURES SHOW THE NUMBER OF ILLEGAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS DISCOVERED IN 2009 DECREASED DRAMATICALLY, FROM 238 IN 2008 TO JUST 58 IN 2009. BUT AT THE SAME TIME, THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE CHARGED WITH FALSIFYING ARTWORK ROSE MORE THAN 400%. GIOVANNI NISTRI, THE COMMANDER OF THE CARABINIERI'S ART SQUAD, SAID MOST OF THE FALSIFICATIONS WERE OF MODERN ART 'PROBABLY BECAUSE THE ART OF TODAY IS EASIER TO FALSIFY WITH FEWER TECHNICALITIES.' IN ALL, ITALY RECOVERED 39,584 LOOTED ARCHAEOLOGICAL ARTIFACTS AND 19,043 OTHER CULTURALLY IMPORTANT WORKS, INCLUDING ENTIRE LIBRARIES, IN 2009, OFFICIALS SAID. AMONG THEM WERE 137 ARTIFACTS RETURNED TO ITALY FROM SWITZERLAND WHICH HAD BEEN IN THE POSSESSION OF ZURICH-BASED RESTORES FRITZ BURKI & SON. BURKI IS KNOWN FOR HAVING RESTORED THE EUPHRONIOS KRATER, ONE OF THE FINEST ANCIENT GREEK VASES IN EXISTENCE. THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART IN NEW YORK PURCHASED IT FOR $1 MILLION IN 1972 FROM AN ART DEALER LATER ACCUSED OF ACQUIRING LOOTED ARTIFACTS. THE VASE WAS RETURNED TO ITALY LAST YEAR. THE ITALIANS ARE WORKING WITH SWISS AUTHORITIES TO LOCATE ANOTHER 300 MISSING PIECES BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN IN BURKIS' POSSESSIONS, A CARABINIERI PRESS RELEASE SAID. OVERALL, THEFT OF ITALIAN ARTWORKS DECREASED 14.5% IN 2009 COMPARED TO 2008, THANKS IN PART TO BETTER INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION, BETTER SECURITY MONITORING AT MUSEUMS AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES AND BEEFED UP CULTURAL HERITAGE DATA BANKS, OFFICIALS SAID.