Antiquities Looting & Smuggling:
Legal and Market-Based Solutions to Italy's Ancient Problem

Panel: The Politics of Art | Q&A: Mon. April 11 @ 6pm

Antiquities Looting & Smuggling:
Legal and Market-Based Solutions to Italy's Ancient Problem

Claudia Isabelle Smithie (Art History, Environmental Studies, Italian)

Abstract and Author Bio

Abstract: My presentation, "Antiquities Looting and Smuggling: Legal and Market-Based Solutions to Italy’s Ancient Problem", will focus on Italy's ancient history of antiquities looting, the role of tombaroli and other figures in the trafficking chain of command, the methods the Italian government has employed to crack down on the problem, and the lack of a consistent and reliable legal framework to prosecute offenders. As of now, the Italian government has chosen to approach the issue with somewhat vague legal measures that focus on cultural property rights violations, rather than acknowledging the reasons that looting is an economically-appealing option for many. Drawing upon information found in legal journals, interviews, current news, and research on social network analysis, this presentation asks whether recognizing looting as a symptom of socioeconomic inequality can better inform efforts to involve local communities in working to preserve their heritage. I present alternative remedies Italy can take, especially from a markets perspective, with the aim of stemming the source. This can include providing financial incentives to hand over discoveries to the government, creating job opportunities around the physical protection of sites, and sharing some of the commercial wealth that antiquities' sales generate among the communities from which they are removed. I will use specific examples from data, case studies, and objects to provide a more comprehensive picture about antiquities trafficking in Italy that encourages a reframing of the way we perceive this complex problem, with the aim of ultimately implementing more effective solutions.

Author Bio: Claudia Smithie is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences. She is an Art History and Environmental Studies Major and Italian Studies minor. Her interest in Italy began in childhood, when she learned to speak Italian. She is drawn to Italian art and has found that the language has given her an intersectional lens through which to study it. She also enjoys reading in Italian, and at NYU, some of her favorite classes have been in translation. Her project reflects where she sees herself in the future, combining these disciplines through the preservation of cultural and ecological patrimony and researching historical documents.

“It makes me sad that our heritage, our Italian history is disappearing like this. I'd like to have an honest job ... but there's no alternative for me or my men. We work to put food on the tables for our families. I know I'm stealing from the State, but I don't know anyone who does this job who is rich. We are all unemployed.”


Lubna S. El-Gendi, “Letting Farmers be Farmers: Economic Solutions to Subsistence Looting”, DePaul Journal of Art, Technology & Intellectual Property Law 23, no. 1 (2012): 122.

Important Terms to Know

Spoliation – “the taking goods or property from somewhere by illegal or unethical means”

“Spoliation,” Definitions, Oxford Languages.


Spilloni long sticks used by tombaroli to determine whether the ground is hollow, thereby indicating the presence of a tomb below

Fiona Rose-Greenland, “Looters, collectors and a passion for antiquities at the margins of Italian society,” Journal of Modern Italian Studies 19, no. 5 (2014), https://www-tandfonline-com.proxy.library.nyu.edu/doi/full/10.1080/1354571X.2014.962256.


Tombaroli – tomb robbers; derives from the Italian word for tomb, tomba


Demanio – the notion of shared public goods that belong to communities, who act as stewards of their common heritage

“Tomb Raiders and the Italian Art Squad,” Casa Italiana NYU, YouTube, March 24, 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og84Y_q8_F8.

Where does the looting happen?

  1. Etruscan sites, located in Etruria, Tuscany, and Lazio

  2. Sicily and Southern Italy, for their ancient Greek metropoli

Andrew L. Slayman, “Italy Fights Back,” Archaeological Institute of America 51, no. 3 (May/June 1998): 43, https://www.jstor.org/stable/41771386.

The Trafficking Web

A structured group of three or more people, acting in concert to violate the law, in order to obtain a financial or other material benefit”.

Kimberly L. Alderman, “Honor Amongst Thieves: Organized Crime and the Illicit Antiquities Trade”, Indiana Law Review 45, no. 3 (2012): 627.

Tombaroli: excavate the tombs

Ricettatore: "the receiver"; a wholesaler who provides artifacts to the clandestino

Clandestini: professional smugglers; along with the ricettatore, they deal directly with clients


Alderman, “Honor Amongst Thieves: Organized Crime and the Illegal Antiquities Trade,” 616-17.

Case Studies

Golden Phiale, made in Sicily ca. 450 BCE (recovered in 1995)

https://www.nytimes.com/1997/11/18/nyregion/judge-rules-ancient-sicilian-golden-bowl-was-illegally-imported.html

Image source: https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-E4yx5gM4tgA/WZhuz5BTDFI/AAAAAAAAGfE/d_3MVQYH-cQGSPSRF8CugCSp5qzsYm4EwCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-08-19%2Bat%2B13.33.06.png

Capitoline Triad from the 2nd cent. CE, found in an area east of Rome (recovered in 1994)

Image source: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/capitoline-triad

Current Methods

Cultural Property Laws

  • Article 733 of Italy’s penal code protects “the archaeological, historical, and artistic patrimony of the nation”; one year's imprisonment but mostly a fine-based system

Paul Hofmann, “Antiques and Antics In Italy: In a serio-comic contest, the tombaroli are keeping archaeologists on the run. Antiques And Antics,” The New York Times, April 29, 1962, https://www.proquest.com/docview/116058788/DA0D42027C374D3CPQ/4.

Carabinieri Art Squad (1969) – Leonardo (1980)

  • 1.3 million objects on virtual database used by law enforcement agencies internationally

Angela Giuffrida,Plunder of Pompeii: how art police turned tide on tomb raiders”, The Guardian, May 28, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/28/pompeii-art-police-italy-tomb-raiders-archaeology.

  • Confiscate illegally-provenanced artwork

Barbie Latza Nadeau and Antonia Mortensen, 'Tomb raiders': The pandemic is making it easier than ever to loot ancient Roman treasures,” CNN Arts, June 5, 2021, https://www.cnn.com/style/article/roman-artifacts-covid-looting/index.html.

  • In 2020, the Carabinieri recovered a total of 17,503 illicit artifacts

Giuffrida,Plunder of Pompeii: how art police turned tide on tomb raiders”, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/28/pompeii-art-police-italy-tomb-raiders archaeology.

New Framework

Legal Solutions

Nicosia Convention (2017)

  • As “the first international treaty to deal exclusively with the criminal aspects of the illicit trade in cultural property" it aims to “fill gaps in the current criminal laws” and pushes for “the prosecution of persistent bad actors”

  • Any activity surrounding cultural property, including “theft, unlawful excavation, illegal import, illegal export, dealing in cultural objects with illicit history, falsification of documents and permits, and the destruction or damage of cultural property”, would constitute a criminal offense.

  • Avoid forfeiture and seizure of illicit material, which can be used as physical evidence of theft and illegal title/provenance in prosecution trials

Derek Fincham, “The Blood Antiquities Convention as a Paradigm for Cultural Property Crime Reduction,” Cardozo Arts and Entertainment 37, no. 2 (2019), 299-336.


Technological Solutions

MANTIS (U Chicago, Oriental Institute)

  • Used by researchers to track the antiquities network in Iraq and Syria

  • “combines satellite images, archaeological records, and market data” and “data from excavation reports, sales records, and satellite images to undertake rigorous investigations of patterns of looting, trafficking, and cultural violence.”

“Our Work,” Research Projects, The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, https://oi.uchicago.edu/research/projects/mantis/our-work.


Economic Solutions

Market-Based

  • Sell "surplus antiquities" on government-regulated antiquities market and use the proceeds to acquire the most historically significant and valuable pieces


Sue J. Park, “The cultural property regime in Italy: An industrialized source nation's difficulties in retaining and recovering its antiquities,” University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law 23, no. 4 (December 2002): 941-54.


  • Museums: adopt long-term loan policies

  • Partage: foreign archaeologists allowed to dig in source nation and gain first access to new sites for study within a given time frame; foreign countries can then legally acquire part of the excavated objects for their museum collections

Slayman, “Italy Fights Back”, 47.


  • Commercial excavation projects: the government subsidizes a private excavation company's dig in return for part of the archaeological findings

Lisa Borodkin, “The Economics of Antiquities Looting and a Proposed Legal Alternative,” Columbia Law Review 95, No. 2 (March, 1995): 406-416.


Community-Based

Rational Choice Theory (Greenland)

  • Cost-benefit mentality: the perceived reward is much greater than the risk of criminal punishment

    • Perpetuates a cycle of reoffenders


Eli J. Szydlo, “Social Network Analysis Applicability in Antiquities Trafficking,” Art Crime Research (2019): 17.


  • Business development surrounding archaeological site

  • Grant programs


El-Gendi, “Letting Farmers be Farmers: Economic Solutions to Subsistence Looting”, 126-146.


  • Finder's fee: government reward for return of object (or identification of archaeological site) determined by value of the object

Borodkin, “The Economics of Antiquities Looting and a Proposed Legal Alternative".

“As custodians of the art that passes through our doors, we have a duty to carefully research the art and objects we handle and sell... [and to] raise awareness of how vital it is to have access to all information to continue to ensure only legitimate works are offered to the market.”

Stephen Brooks, Christie's Auction House


Lianne Kolirin, “Ancient looted artworks returned to Italy by Christie's auction house,” CNN Style, February 13, 2019, https://www.cnn.com/style/article/italy-looted-art-scli-intl/index.html.

Further Reading

Andrew L. Slayman, “Italy Fights Back,” Archaeological Institute of America 51, no. 3 (May/June 1998), https://www.jstor.org/stable/41771386.


Angela Giuffrida,Plunder of Pompeii: how art police turned tide on tomb raiders”, The Guardian, May 28, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/28/pompeii-art-police-italy-tomb-raiders-archaeology.


Barbie Latza Nadeau and Antonia Mortensen, 'Tomb raiders': The pandemic is making it easier than ever to loot ancient Roman treasures,” CNN Arts, June 5, 2021, https://www.cnn.com/style/article/roman-artifacts-covid-looting/index.html.


Chauncey D. Steele IV, “The Morgantina Treasure: Italy’s Quest for Repatriation of Looted Artifacts,” The Suffolk Transnational Law Review 23, no. 2 (2000).

Derek Fincham, “The Blood Antiquities Convention as a Paradigm for Cultural Property Crime Reduction,” Cardozo Arts and Entertainment 37, no. 2 (2019).


Eli J. Szydlo, “Social Network Analysis Applicability in Antiquities Trafficking,” Art Crime Research (2019).


Fiona Rose-Greenland, “Looters, collectors and a passion for antiquities at the margins of Italian society,” Journal of Modern Italian Studies 19, no. 5 (2014), https://www-tandfonline-com.proxy.library.nyu.edu/doi/full/10.1080/1354571X.2014.962256.

Kimberly L. Alderman, “Honor Amongst Thieves: Organized Crime and the Illicit Antiquities Trade”, Indiana Law Review 45, no. 3 (2012).

Leila Amineddoleh, “Protecting Cultural Heritage by Strictly Scrutinizing Museum Acquisitions,” Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal 24, no. 3 (2014), https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1572&context=iplj.


Lianne Kolirin, “Ancient looted artworks returned to Italy by Christie's auction house,” CNN Style, February 13, 2019, https://www.cnn.com/style/article/italy-looted-art-scli-intl/index.html.

Lisa Borodkin, “The Economics of Antiquities Looting and a Proposed Legal Alternative,” Columbia Law Review 95, No. 2 (March, 1995).


Lubna S. El-Gendi, “Letting Farmers be Farmers: Economic Solutions to Subsistence Looting”, DePaul Journal of Art, Technology & Intellectual Property Law 23, no. 1 (2012).

“Our Work,” Research Projects, The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, https://oi.uchicago.edu/research/projects/mantis/our-work.

Paul Hofmann, “Antiques and Antics In Italy: In a serio-comic contest, the tombaroli are keeping archaeologists on the run. Antiques And Antics,” The New York Times, April 29, 1962, https://www.proquest.com/docview/116058788/DA0D42027C374D3CPQ/4.

Robert D. McFadden, "Judge Rules Ancient Sicilian Golden Bowl Was Illegally Imported", The New York Times, Nov. 18, 1997, https://www.nytimes.com/1997/11/18/nyregion/judge-rules-ancient-sicilian-golden-bowl-was-illegally-imported.html.

“Spoliation,” Definitions, Oxford Languages.


Sue J. Park, “The cultural property regime in Italy: An industrialized source nation's difficulties in retaining and recovering its antiquities,” University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law 23, no. 4 (December 2002).


The Capitoline Triad, Atlas Obscura, August 14, 2019, https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/capitoline-triad.


“Tomb Raiders and the Italian Art Squad,” Casa Italiana NYU, YouTube, March 24, 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og84Y_q8_F8.