Police estimated the value of the 5,361 vases, kraters, bronze statues and frescoes at about 50 million euros ($58 million). The works, from the 8th century B.C. to the 3rd century, were laid out Wednesday at the National Roman Museum and may go on public display.

Carabineri Gen. Mariano Mossa says it was "by a long shot the biggest recovery in history in terms of the quantity and quality of archaeological treasures."

They were found during an investigation into Basel-based art dealer Gianfranco Becchina, accused by prosecutors of being part of a huge trafficking network.

Source: Associated Press [January 21, 2015]

The Italian agreement

VIA «Google Books will scan the Italian libraries»

VIA «The house of the Italian photographer»

In the biggest shake-up of arts and culture of modern times, Matteo Renzi, the Prime Minister, has announced that the Government is to run advertisements in the Economist on January 9 to recruit new administrators "because we want to have the best directors in the world".

The leadership changes are part of a dramatic shake-up of the arts spearheaded by Dario Franceschini, the Culture Minister, in an attempt to make the country's galleries, museums and historic sites more profit-driven. Italy boasts nearly 3000 cultural sites that attract 77 million visitors a year.

The Colosseum alone draws 5.5 million of those.

Among the other "super museums" Franceschini wants to develop are the Borghese Gallery and National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome and the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

Under a government decree, Franceschini hopes to generate earnings of more than 2 billion ($3.16 billion) in 2017, with further growth in the years to come. Italy's museums, galleries and archeological sites generated only 380 million in revenue in 2013, according to La Repubblica newspaper, and cost 350 million to operate.

The minister's office declined to comment on the new plans. But, according to La Repubblica, Franceschini wants to model Italian museums on the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and add more restaurants, gift shops, guides and accessories that will attract more visitors and ultimately more profits.

He also wants to create 18 new regional offices with responsibility for the country's biggest artistic sites and grant more power to individual directors who run them. Italian media also said he was expected to appoint 12 new directors-general within his ministry who would manage specific sectors such as tourism, cinema and live theatre.

Franceschini has openly favoured other measures to increase tourism by "adding value" to the country's heritage and strongly supports corporate sponsorship.

He recently backed a move to bring live cultural events and concerts to ancient monuments such as the Colosseum because he said they needed to be "brought alive" for visitors from around the world.

In June, he launched a $50 million appeal to preserve the vast Domus Aurea palace built by Emperor Nero beside the Colosseum.

The Domus Aurea, loosely translated as the Golden House, is a sprawling complex of interconnecting dining halls, frescoed reception rooms and vaulted hallways on the hill opposite the ancient amphitheatre.

"The state has very limited resources unfortunately," said Franceschini at the time.

"This is an opportunity for a big company to sponsor an extraordinary project, which will capture the world's attention. It would be scandalous if no one comes forward."

Source: The New Zealand Herald [December 26, 2014]

In October, a Canadian woman made headlines around the world when she personally returned to hand back a 2,000-year old fragment she had stolen from Pompeii on her honeymoon 50 years ago.

The woman from Montreal, who is in her 70s, said the theft of the first century AD terracotta roof decoration had weighed on her conscience for decades.

Now Massimo Osanna, superintendent of the World Heritage-listed site, said that was not an isolated case and hundreds of archeological artefacts had been sent back to the museum in recent years, often with letters of apology written in different languages.

"We have been receiving hundreds of packages with hundreds of fragments now for years," Mr Osanna told the Italian daily, Il Messaggero.

"People write expressing regret, having realised they have made a terrible mistake and that they would never do it again and for this reason they are sending the stolen pieces back.

"But the most curious thing, from an anthropological point of view, are the letters that accompany the stolen fragments which reveal a cross-section of people worth studying."

Mr Osanna said that one particular fresco fragment that had been returned was crucial in the restoration of the Casa del Frutteto, or house of the orchard keeper, which collapsed in the 1980s.

He said the property was restored but after work was completed experts realised a piece of wall plaster was missing. He said it was returned to officials in March and would now be added.

Mr Osanna could not be contacted on Tuesday but said he would like to stage an exhibition to showcase the precious objects that had been returned.

Alessandro Pintucci, president of the Italian Confederation of Archeologists, welcomed the return of artefacts but warned more security was needed to protect valuable cultural sites and to prevent thefts where there were often too few controls.

Pompeii was buried by a sudden volcanic eruption of nearby Mt Vesuvius in 79 AD. The preserved remains of the town attract around 2.5 million tourists every year.

Theft is a problem at ancient sites like Pompeii and the Colosseum in Rome, with tourists regularly trying to take "souvenirs" of their visits.

Last September a pair of American tourists were caught at Fiumicino airport in Rome with a stone artefact they had taken from Pompeii.

Author: Josephine McKenna | Source: Telegraph [December 24, 2014]

Italian bank Unicredit and the nonprofit foundation CariVerona signed a deal Wednesday with Verona's mayor to restore the Arena at a cost of 14 million euros ($17.5 million).

The project aims to secure the open-air Arena, the third-largest Roman-era amphitheater to survive antiquity, against infiltration from rain, which has damaged the seating areas, and upgrade its stairs and infrastructure like the electrical system.

The deal falls under the government's Art Bonus initiative adopted this year that gives donors a 65 percent tax credit.

With state funding to culture shrinking amid Italy's recession, Verona Mayor Flavio Tosi praised the Art Bonus program, saying that public resources "would never be sufficient to maintain treasures like ours."

The Arena is one of Verona's biggest tourist attractions and the venue for its famed summer opera festival. Some 1.5 million people enter the monument each year.

Tosi said the restoration work is expected take three years.

The mayor has another, more controversial project, in his sights: adding a roof to the 1st -century building. Tosi said he was awaiting approval from the culture ministry to solicit proposals.

Source: The Associated Press [December 19, 2014]

The castles are the Tavolese manor near Florence and Sapia castle near Siena. From northern to southern Italy, dozens of private castles are on the market, according to a statement by Lionard Luxury Estate.

Prices range from 1,200 to 8,500 euros per square meter for mansions of great charm and prestige, perfectly maintained, some of which have already been fitted as hotels or farms.

''On our website alone we have 37 castles on sale, but there are over 70 across Italy in the portfolio'', said the CEO of Lionard Luxury Real Estate, Dimitri Corti.

High maintenance costs and growing fiscal pressure on real estate have convinced many owners, in many cases for many generations, to consider selling to foreign buyers, at the moment the only ones interested in investing in this type of property.

The most advantageous properties are currently located in Piedmont: one of the most stunning castles in Monferrato, located in a park with secular trees, a manor of 5,962 square metres in perfect condition, with a 16th century guesthouse, is on sale for 7 million euros, just over 1,000 euro per square meter. Similar occasions can be found in Umbria, Emilia Romagna, Lazio, Liguria and Tuscany, one of the most sought after for this type of property.

It is the case of the 19th century Castello di Acquabella, in the splendid natural reserve of Vallombrosa, near the abbey by the same name, which has been perfectly renovated, for a total of 5,000 square meters inside.

On the coast between Livorno and Castiglioncello, a castle dating back to the beginning of the 1900s with splendid sea views is on sale - 700 square metres on four floors with two towers. The park includes palm trees, secular pines and exotic plants.

The castle of Sapia - from the name of Sapia Salviati - near Monteriggioni, just 7 km from Siena, is also on sale. Set in a splendid landscape, the hotel needs a full renovation and is on sale for 2.5 million euros.

More expensive are stunning castles in the Chianti countryside near Siena and Florence, like the imposing Castello di Tavolese, which belonged to the house of Farinata degli Uberti, the family of Petrarca's mother: 7,676 covered square meters and 67 hectares of park, which includes buildings such as a church and farms.

Source: ANSAmed [December 15, 2014]

The restoration was funded by the Special Superintendency for the Archaeological Heritage of Naples and Pompeii (SANP) and was conducted in lots so that parts of the Villa were still open to the public throughout the restoration process.

The Villa was first discovered in excavations in 1909 and was exceptionally well-preserved despite the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A.D., which covered it in a layer of over 30 feet of volcanic ash.

The recent restoration work, which involved 70 rooms of the Villa, corrected some of the damage inflicted by previous restoration techniques that were found to be harmful to the Villa's frescoes over the years.

In work done during the 1930s, wax was applied to preserve the frescoes, but ultimately faded the colors, something that was corrected using techniques to first identify the nature of the chromatic alterations and other damage over time and then perform restorations.

In addition to work done to restore the Villa's frescoes, the most famous of which is the Dionysiac frieze​ portraying the mysteries of the Cult of Dionysus from which the Villa takes its name, work was also done to clean the intricate mosaic floor decorations.

Source: ANSA [March 13, 2015]

That's what happened to University at Buffalo faculty member Philip Kiernan, who heard a rumor from a UB alumnus in 2010 that the UB Libraries housed the rare coins. Three years later, Kiernan, an assistant professor of classics, channeled his inner Indiana Jones and journeyed to the depths of the UB archives to find them.

The collection, he was shocked to learn, was real: 40 silver Greek coins, three gold Greek coins and a dozen gold Roman coins -- one from each era of the first 12 Roman emperors, from Julius Caesar to Domitian. They range in date from the fifth century B.C. to the late first century A.D.

Not your usual find.

"I must have been the first person to touch them in almost 40 years," says Kiernan, who brought in two experts to verify the coins' authenticity last semester and is now developing a graduate course to examine the items' history.

It's the first time the coins will be extensively studied, and Kiernan and his class will publish their findings.

Within the collection is a "remarkably rare" coin of Roman emperor Otho, who reigned for a mere three months. The Greek coins were struck by some of the most powerful city-states and rulers of the ancient world, such as Athens, Corinth and Alexander the Great.

The coins were donated in 1935 to the UB Libraries Special Collections by Thomas B. Lockwood as part of a larger collection of rare books. However, it wasn't until Kiernan examined them out of curiosity that the currency's rarity and value were realized.

Kiernan focuses much of his research on ancient currency and antiquities, and the experts he brought in to examine the coins were numismatists -- people who collect or study currency.

The coins are one of the many treasures stored in the UB Libraries, which also hold original works by James Joyce, Dylan Thomas and William Shakespeare.

"Libraries are becoming museums," says Michael Basinski, curator of the UB Libraries Special Collections. "Everything is going digital, but we remain tied to the physical objects."

Lockwood's collection includes more than 3,000 books, medallions and additional coins from early America and England. Other notable items include a medallion of Napoleon Bonaparte and 36 British gold coins, including one of Queen Elizabeth I.

Lockwood, an avid reader and collector of rare and special books, purchased the items to supplement his personal collection. Accruing relics and art was common practice among affluent men in the early 20th century.

"For book collectors, owning such extraordinary objects connects them to the history that's recorded in their books," says Kiernan. "They could read about the Emperor Augustus and then examine a coin with his image."

Most of the coins are in excellent condition, despite remaining in their original 80-plus-year-old casing. A few of the silver coins require conservation treatment. The collection's casing also will be improved.

The UB Libraries will open the collection of coins to members of the campus and local communities pursuing relevant research.

Author: Marcene Robinson | Source: University at Buffalo [March 11, 2015]

The tourists from California, aged 21 and 25, were cited Saturday for carving their first names eight centimeters (three inches) high into an upper level of the Colosseum, said Carabinieri Capt. Lorenzo Iacobone.

The two were freed on their own recognizance but will face charges for aggravated damage to a monument. Their names or hometowns were not released by police.

Iacobone said the young women apologized for the vandalism, but he said such acts "are extremely serious. No one considers the damage they are creating."

"They have carved their names into ancient stone. It is not like writing with a pen, and then afterward it can be cleaned up," he said.

A Russian tourist who carved his initials into the Colosseum in November was handed a four-month suspended sentence and a fine of 20,000 euros ($21,270) after opting for a speedy trial. It was the fifth such act of vandalism by tourists last year, including a Canadian tourist who tried to steal a piece of stone from the Colosseum hidden in his backpack.

Union leaders have complained about the lack of personnel to properly monitor Rome's archaeological treasures — with increasing numbers of visitors seeking to leave their trace on antiquity, causing irreparable damage.

With thousands of tourists visiting the monument each day and many hidden corners, Iacobone said it was impossible to monitor everyone's actions.

Source: Associated Press ]March 09, 2015]

"The UNESCO inspectors' words are the rightful recognition of an effort that has been intense, scrupulous and methodical," Franceschini said of the project launched by the government in 2013 with joint Italian and European Union funding to shore up the crumbling remains of the ancient Roman town buried by the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79. The EU had earmarked a total of 105 million euros for Pompeii.

Since then, UNESCO has repeatedly expressed concern about conditions at the World Heritage site, threatening to remove it from the list if certain improvements were not made. Now in a report the UNESCO inspectors reported "tangible and significant improvements in the state of conservation" of the archaeological area.

"Italy is making a considerable effort to adopt the recommendations of the World Heritage Committee," the inspectors continued, recommending the extension of the Great Pompeii Project to the end of 2016.

Source: ANSA [March 05, 2015]