The J. Paul Getty Trust in Los Angeles has agreed to return some "significant objects" to Italy from its collection of Etruscan and Roman art, including "several masterpieces," the trust announced Wednesday in a joint statement with the Italian government.

Although few details were provided, the breakthrough seems to pave the way for a settlement to Italy's claims to dozens of antiquities in the Getty Museum's collection. Italy has long argued that those objects were looted from Italian soil in recent decades and sold to the Getty by unscrupulous dealers.

Neither side would say how many or which artifacts were being returned. In exchange for the antiquities, the two sides said, Italy is prepared to "provide loans of objects of comparable visual beauty and historical importance."