Art Smuggling: Better Than Sex

Italy is cracking down on the illegal trade of art and antiquities from its borders. The trial of a Getty Museum curator offers the point of view of Pietro Casasanta.

It's hard to imagine the underground world of art and antiquities smugglers, especially in the twenty-first century. Now with the testimony of a notorious and career art smuggler in Italy, we get a brief and intriguing glimpse into his methods and motives.

Pietro Casasanta has spent 50 years in the art smuggling business. He didn't steal his merchandise from museums, he dug it from the ground or hired others to do it for him. Casasanta made it a habit to visit carious construction sites in Italy and hung around the outskirts and darted in occasionally when he sensed treasure. He even argues that in this way he preserved the artwork that would have been otherwise destroyed or paved over to make way for new construction.

But Casasanta also went out of his way to create excavations of old Roman ruins using backhoes and hired hands to help with the digging. These illegal diggings even went on in broad daylight. No doubt Casasanta was a convincing con artist to be able to get away with such brazen thievery.

What really made Casasanta one of the most successful art smugglers of our time is that world-class museums bought his pilferings. Ancient stolen Roman, Greek and Estruscan artifacts were purchased by the J. Paul Getty Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Boston's Museum of Fine Arts and the Los Angeles Museum of Art.

Casasanta and his art smuggling came to light when he testified at the trial of a Getty Museum curator accused of purchasing stolen art. Most of the museums are in the process of returning the stolen art to their rightful home in Italy.

From Casasanta's point of view, he is annoyed at the Italian government and claims that the business of art smuggling has been going on for a long time and that he is performing a valuable service. And if you think he was in it for the money, you're wrong. When asked about his motives, Casasanta is quoted as saying that the excitement of finding buried treasure "was better than sex".

Source: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/01/17/europe/EU-GEN-Italy-Looted-Antiquities.php