In the first article of this two-article series, I explained that the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York possesses a 6th century BC Etruscan chariot called the Biga of Monteleone di Spoleto that they bought back in 1903 and that the town of Monteleone claims was removed from its region of Umbria, and Italy, illegally. The first Director of the Met Museum, Luigi Palma di Cesnola, acquired the Biga in Paris. A historian in Ivrea discovered sixteen letters that reveal a conspiracy to remove the Biga illegally out of Italy and bring it to New York. The town of Monteleone declares that these sixteen letters are indisputable evidence the Biga was removed illicitly and is demanding the Biga be returned and the town’s mayor, Marisa Angelini, is leading the fight.
For this second article I interviewed the Mayor of Monteleone di Spoleto.
The small town sits 3,208 feet above sea level with a population with “cuori di leone” (or “lion hearts”). Little remains of the days when Etruscans or even the Romans had a presence in Monteleone, but the discovery of the Biga is hailed as one of the greatest archeological finds in Italy and the Monteleonesi know its importance. They are very dedicated to the Biga’s repatriation and are emotionally attached to it. The town has acquired an amazing replica of the Biga that was created by the Art School of the great Italian master Manzu in 1985 (the Year of the Etruscans). This outstanding replica is a historical testimony of the authentic Biga that the Met Museum possesses and is on permanent exhibition at The Museum of the Biga in Monteleone di Spoleto.
Recently Mayor Marisa Angelini discussed the repatriation effort with me.
C Sabba: When Gennaro Sangiuliano was appointed Italian Minister of Culture back in 2022, you wrote him immediately and requested the Ministry of Culture take action to recover the Biga. Did he respond?
Mayor M Angelini: “The day after his appointment, Minister Sangiuliano replied to my best wishes: “Thank you very much, we will have the opportunity to work together.”
In the recent period of June 2023, I sent the Minister a dossier and a letter to begin a discussion with him for the return of the Biga to Italy, the Minister has not yet responded.”
CS: I heard that at the presentation of the documentary about the Biga, L’Anello di Grace, the Italian Prosecutor Maurizio Fiorilli gave you his contact info and said he would like to help the City of Monteleone di Spoleto recover the Biga. Can you confirm this?
MA: “Prosecutor Fiorilli is a person of the highest level and has an in-depth knowledge of the mechanisms that are implemented for restitution of works of art stolen from various foreign countries. He himself participated last year in December in an important conference in Monteleone di Spoleto, with other illustrious figures from the Italian cultural world, such as the Etruscologist Professor Roncalli. In this context we talked about making the Met Museum aware of the importance that the Biga has for Italian culture and history and that the need for its return is indisputable, as a unique find in the panorama of archeological finds that tell of the roots of the Italic peoples.”
CS: Please describe how important the return of the Biga is for you and for the citizens of your city.
MA: “The citizens of Monteleone di Spoleto feel deprived of a cultural asset that represents the identity of their roots. The passionate need to have the “Golden Chariot” back is demonstrated by the copy that we made which is preserved in the municipal civic museum. The desire to have the original archeological find back is strongly felt among the population. We know, however, that the Metropolitan Museum of Art and other American museums are carefully considering returning the stolen works of art. Today we all know that the Biga was brought to America with various devices and that it would be right to return it to Italy with an ethical action.”
Recently the Met Museum Director Max Hollein assured the world that the Met has developed new policies on identifying objects that left countries illegally. Mr. Hollein declared to Agence France “We don’t want to have any object in our collections that came illegally. You will see and hear from the Met, not only about more outcome from our research, but actually more restitutions, more returns and more collaborations with those countries.”
The Biga di Monteleone di Spoleto would be a very appropriate piece for Director Hollein and the Met Museum to start with in implementing these new restitution policies. Here, the Museum can take the high ethical and moral ground and right one of its oldest wrongs.
