ITALY: New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art may return disputed antiquities to Italy by early 2007 under a deal meant to resolve Italy's claims to some of the Met's most prized artefacts, an Italian official said yesterday.
The culture ministry official said that as part of the possible agreement, which is still being worked out and requires approval by the Met's board, Italy would in exchange lend objects of equal value to the museum on a rotating basis.
The compromise was discussed at a meeting between Italian officials and the Met's director, Philippe de Montebello, in Rome last week.
"I think we can reach an accord fairly rapidly," said Giuseppe Proietti, head of the research and innovation department at Italy's culture ministry.
The dispute with the Met involves more than 20 objects which Italy says were stolen or illegally excavated within its borders.
Rome is particularly keen to recover the Euphronios krater, a 2,500-year-old Greek vase which is regarded as one of the most prized treasures in the Metropolitan's collection, and a set of 15 silver pieces from the third century BC.
Asked when the disputed antiquities might return to Italy, Mr Proietti said: "We talked about late 2006 or early 2007."
The Metropolitan wanted to see the evidence supporting Italy's claims, but that did not mean that it disputed them.
Last month the former curator of another respected US art institution, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, appeared before a Rome court to face charges of knowingly acquiring stolen artefacts.
A few days earlier, the Getty had returned three disputed art works to Italy.
Experts say international trade in stolen antiquities is worth billions of dollars every year and that the buying practices of many museums, particularly in the United States, are questionable.
Both the Euphronios krater and the silver pieces were sold to the Met by Paris-based art dealer Emanuel Robert Hecht, the co- defendant in the trial of former Getty curator Marion True.