Cultural Property Agreements: The United States and Italy
Working Together to Protect Humanity's Legacy
Rinaldo Enchanted by Armida (1742/45) by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Italian, 1696–1770)The Art Institute of Chicago
Enhancing collaboration
A quarter century ago, the United States and Italy began negotiations on their first bilateral cultural property agreement. It would be America’s first with a country in Europe.
Signed on January 19, 2001, the new cultural property agreement between the United States and Italy has benefitted both countries and demonstrated their commitment to remain leaders in the effort to protect humanity’s cultural legacy.
Icarus Fresco, from Pompeii by Immortal City Exhibit – Courtesy of the Italian Ministry of Culture – National Archeological Museum of NaplesCultural Heritage Center, U.S. Department of State
Increased exchange
The agreement has made it easier for American and Italian museums to share artifacts for exhibits. Since the first agreement, over 50 exhibitions of Italy’s heritage have come to the United States
Shown here is a Roman fresco, The Fall of Icarus, which was loaned by National Archaeological Museum of Naples to United States museums in Richmond (VA), Spokane (WA), Orlando (FL), Jersey City (NJ) and Arlington (TX) between 2019 and 2024.
Bronze Foot Lantern by Immortal City Exhibit--- Courtesy of the Italian Ministry of Culture – National Archeological Museum of NaplesCultural Heritage Center, U.S. Department of State
The exhibits expand opportunities for the American public to learn about the history of and cultural legacy of Italy. Shown here is Bronze Foot Lantern, which was loaned by National Archaeological Museum of Naples to Arlington (TX) Museum of Art in 2024.
Increased research
The agreement has also made it easier for United States researchers to conduct archaeological excavations in Italy.
Since 2001, the Italian government has issued permits for over 50 American- led excavations, like the one shown here by Illinois State University at Valle Gianni.
The scene from the Northwest Bolsena Archaeological Project.. (2023) by Illinois State UniversityCultural Heritage Center, U.S. Department of State
Projects like the one at Valle Gianni offer a window into the past. The Illinois State University team in 2023 excavated the remains of a monumental fountain, a medium scale wine production site, and, potentially, a villa structure.
Thwarting traffickers, cartels and terrorists
Italy originally sought the agreement to combat trafficking of its millennia-old cultural heritage. Looters stole objects from museums and sites to sell in the lucrative U.S. art market -- the world's largest. Shown here is Fresco of a Maenad, stolen in 1975 from Pompeii.
Agreements protect heritage.
The cultural property agreement requires importers to obtain a permit for an antiquity, signaling the Italian government's approval before the object can enter the United States.
This enables legal trade in Italian antiquities to continue while preventing looted or stolen objects from being sold within America. The restrictions protect American collectors from buying looted and trafficked antiquities and help prevent money-laundering.
The restrictions also disrupt funding networks of terrorists, gangs, and cartels that exploit antiquities for profit and money laundering. UNESCO estimated that global antiquities trafficking was valued at $2.2B
Tapestry, returned to Italy (2022) by Federal Bureau of InvestigationCultural Heritage Center, U.S. Department of State
Law enforcement
The agreement also aided collaboration between leading law enforcement agencies in both countries--the Carabinieri, FBI, and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Since the CPA has come into force. These agencies have trained together and carried out hundreds of joint investigations
The joint investigations have resulted in the seizure and return of thousands of Italian antiquities, like these 16th-century tapestries stolen from Florence, captured in Delaware in a joint operation, and returned in 2022. Other recent operations have involved...
…this antique book returned to Italy in February 2015 after a joint HSI and Carabinieri investigation into a U.S. buyer...
... and this statue of Tyche, recovered on November 29, 2007 by the Carabinieri Command for Cultural Protection
Velocità d'automobile (Velocità n. 1) (1913) by Giacomo BallaMart, Museum of modern and contemporary art of Trento and Rovereto
"To protect our history means to defend our future..."
General Giovanni Nistri, former Commanding General of the Italian Carabinieri.
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In addition to its agreement with Italy, the United States now has bilateral cultural property agreements with 30 countries around the world, protecting humanity’s cultural legacy.
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