2 October 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Italian Art Police Seize Stolen Roman Statue

Italian police said they recovered a first-century Roman statue that was stolen in 2011 and found in an antique shop in Belgium.

The Carabinieri art team said in a statement on Monday that an Italian businessman who used a Spanish alias had been referred to the prosecutor for further investigation of the allegations he received and then exported the statue abroad.

It was stolen in November 2011 from the Villa Marini Dettina archaeological site on the outskirts of the capital Rome, the statement said.

Two members of the art squad’s archaeological unit were on assignment in Brussels when they took a walk after work in the Sablon neighborhood that is known for its antique shops. They spotted a marble statue in a shop that they suspected was from Italy and confirmed their suspicions when they cross-referenced the work with a database of known stolen antiquities, the statement said.

Carabineri
Carabinieri officers of the art squad’s archaeological unit pose with a headless Roman statue wearing a draped toga in Brussel. (Carabinieri Via AP)

The “Togatus” statue, featuring a headless Roman wearing a draped toga, has a value of 100,000 euros (around TL 970,340)



📣 Our WhatsApp channel is now LIVE! Stay up-to-date with the latest news and updates, just click here to follow us on WhatsApp and never miss a thing!!



Italy has been working for years to recover its looted artifacts.

What is toga?

A characteristic garment of ancient Rome was a roughly semicircular fabric wrapped around the shoulders and around the body. It was usually woven from white wool and was worn over a tunic.

Related Articles

An ancient “fridge” have uncovered at the Roman legionary fortress of Novae, Bulgaria

30 September 2022

30 September 2022

Polish archaeologists, during excavations at the Roman legionnaires’ camp in Novae, discovered a container that could be described as an...

The best-preserved Roman ruins outside of Italy can be seen in Jerash the ancient city of Jordan’s

2 December 2021

2 December 2021

Jerash is a magnificent old Roman city located around 50 kilometers from Amman, Jordan. Jerash is considered the most well-preserved...

Roman ‘ritual center’ discovered in England

12 January 2023

12 January 2023

Archaeologists from have discovered a Roman ritual centre during excavations near Northampton, England. The find was made by the Museum...

1900 years old funerary altar of a teenage girl discovered in Rome

9 May 2022

9 May 2022

A funerary altar indicating the location of the remains of Valeria, a 13-year-old girl who died in the 2nd century...

An amateur archeologist has discovered a Roman war site

1 November 2021

1 November 2021

Thanks to the insistence of an amateur archaeologist, a Roman battlefield in Switzerland has been identified. Shortly before the birth...

Archaeologists are deciphering Roman history along Dere Street, one of the oldest roadways in Britain

17 July 2021

17 July 2021

Final archaeological finds uncovered as part of a major road improvement in the north of England have shed new insight...

The First Evidence of Match-Fixing Found in the Ancient World

23 February 2021

23 February 2021

There are hundreds of things that are old in our world, one of them is people’s passion to win. Where...

Private lodges were uncovered in the colosseum of the ancient city of Pergamon

24 September 2021

24 September 2021

Private lodges built for the elite-class people to watch gladiator or wild animal fights shows have been unearthed in the...

Severe drought in Italy unearths remains of an ancient bridge in Rome

15 July 2022

15 July 2022

Continued severe heat in Italy has uncovered an archaeological treasure in Rome: a bridge reportedly built by the Roman emperor...

A 2,000-year-old monumental Roman villa Found Under a Seaside May Be Pliny the Elder’s house

23 January 2024

23 January 2024

Researchers have discovered the remnants of a massive Roman villa thought to have ties to Pliny the Elder while working...

Leptis Magna was once one of the most important African cities of the Roman Empire

28 September 2021

28 September 2021

The ancient city of Leptis Magna, as was its name in antiquity, was once one of the most prominent and...

The first time in Anatolia, a legionnaires’ cemetery belonging to the Roman Empire unearthed

18 November 2022

18 November 2022

In the ancient city of Satala, in the Kelkit district of Gümüşhane in the Eastern Black Sea region of Turkey,...

Farmer Found Sarcophagus of Hellenistic Period in his Field

9 April 2021

9 April 2021

The citizen named E. G. in Akçakoca, Taşkuyucak District of Gölmarmara district of Manisa (Turkey), while plowing his field, thought...

Evidence of Necromancy during Roman era in the Te’omim Cave, Jerusalem Hills: Oil Lamps, Spearheads, and Skulls

14 July 2023

14 July 2023

Te’omim Cave in the Jerusalem Hills may once have served as a local oracle where people communed with the dead...

An Ancient Building and Gold Artifacts Found in the Ancient Greek City of Rypes in Achaea

10 December 2024

10 December 2024

Recent excavations on the Trapezá plateau, eight kilometers southwest of the city of Aigio in the Peloponnese, have uncovered an...