After legal odyssey, homecoming show for looted antiquities

ROME: In Greek, the word nostos means homecoming; the plural is nostoi. Hence the title of an exhibition that Italy has organized to trumpet the return of dozens of ancient artifacts that until recently adorned showcases in American museums and private galleries.

"Nostoi: Recovered Masterpieces" does not pull its punches in explaining how those objects made their way abroad: They were looted from Italian archaeological sites.

Excavated "from the bowels of the earth," "deprived of their identity" and "reduced to mere objects of beauty, without a soul," these pieces "conclude their odyssey here today," Francesco Rutelli, Italy's culture minister, told reporters at a press briefing on Monday at the Quirinale, or presidential palace, where the show is to open on Friday.

He called the exhibition, which is free to the public, "a Christmas present."