Reminiscences of a tomborolo

A long and interesting article in the Toronto Star:

The moment Pietro Casasanta came face to face with ancient Rome's most powerful gods, his breath cut short and his knees buckled.

"I almost had a heart attack," says Casasanta, one of Italy's most successful tombaroli, or tomb robbers. "I knew I had discovered something very beautiful and very valuable."

Casasanta, his son and an associate working a small Caterpillar power shovel were digging in broad daylight at an archeological site east of Rome called l'Inviolata. He discovered the temple site in 1970, when he pulled 63 statues, illegally, from the earth. But none compared to his find 22 years later.

As we've noted before, while the Italians are now cracking down hard on illegally excavated antiquities, until quite recently it was quite another story.

"People think this business is so mysterious. It isn't," says Casasanta, 67. "I told you, we excavated in broad daylight. I used to have a shop in the heart of Rome that sold only ancient Roman marbles. I wasn't hiding anything."

Some may be surprised at the brazenness of it all, but what do you expect in an enforcement environment akin to that regarding the 55 mph highway speed limit in the USA?

Italian authorities claim museums in Europe, the United States and Asia have for years purchased artifacts fully aware that their claimed pedigrees were dubious at best.

Not to defend the illegal antiquities trade, but I'd feel a bit more sympathetic were the Italian government to express some regret for the message they sent by decades of indifference and neglect. The success of the current crackdown highlights how much could have been done in the past had there been the will:

More important to police was an archive of thousands of photographs [documenting Medici's transactions in antiquities for years], some showing objects still encrusted with dirt at sites in the Italian countryside. . .

"The best is yet to come," Musella says, referring to future criminal charges. "Those who work illegally in this market are not sleeping well these days. They know we're studying an archive even bigger than Medici's. It reveals many of the mysteries of the last 20 years in international trafficking," he adds.

This new archive implicates many more museums and private collectors, Musella says, refusing to give out names until charges are laid.

Posted by David on March 18, 2006 4:34 PM