[MSN] Italy's presidential palace will host an exhibit of 40 antiquities the J. Paul Getty Museum is returning as Rome reclaims treasures it says were looted from Italian territory, officials said Wednesday.

[Museum Security Network Mailing list]

Italy's presidential palace to host 40 artifacts returned from Getty Museum 

The Associated Press 
Wednesday, October 3, 2007 
 ROME: Italy's presidential palace will host an exhibit of 40 antiquities
the J. Paul Getty Museum is returning as Rome reclaims treasures it says
were looted from Italian territory, officials said Wednesday.

The exhibition at the Qurinale Palace will open at the end of December and
last through February, the palace said in a statement. Entrance will be
free.

"As the home of all Italians, the Qurinale is the most appropriate and
prestigious place so that our citizens and visitors from around the world
can come and admire these masterpieces in the country where they came from,"
Culture Minister Francesco Rutelli said.

After more than a year of negotiations, the Los Angeles-based Getty museum
agreed in August to return the 40 works Italy says were looted. The first
four arrived in Rome on Tuesday.

The Getty has denied knowingly buying illegally obtained objects. Italy's
deal with the museum includes no admission of guilt.

It calls for all but one of the treasures to be transferred to Italy by
year's end. The most prized work, a 5th century B.C. statue of the goddess
Aphrodite, will remain at the Getty museum until 2010.

In exchange, Italy will lend the Los Angeles museum other artifacts for up
to four years each. The agreement also provides for cultural cooperation,
including research projects and joint exhibitions.

The Qurinale Palace, located in downtown Rome, is the official residence of
the Italian president. Standing on top of the highest of Rome's seven hills,
it was the summer residence of the popes starting in the 16th century,
though by 1870, it became the residence of the Italian monarchy.

The return of the works from the Getty is the latest stage in an aggressive
campaign by various countries, including Italy and Greece, to pressure
museums and private collectors to return artifacts looted from their
territories. Besides the Getty and the Met, Italy has struck a deal with
Boston's Museum of Fine Arts to return disputed treasures.

http://www.iht.com/