Boston museum returns disputed artifacts to Italy

Italian officials showed off on Thursday more than a dozen artifactsreturned byBoston's Museum of Fine Arts.

Officials unveiled the 13 disputed archeological pieces to reporters in Rome Thursday after the U.S. museum agreed to the return. The objects included 11 vases, a marble statue of Sabina, the wife of Emperor Hadrien, and a bas relief believed to have decorated Hadrian's villa near Rome.

Italy's Culture Minister Francesco Rutelli and museum director Malcolm Rogers took part in a signing ceremonyThursdayto seal the deal.

In exchange for the returned objects, Italy will allow the Boston museum to borrow from its vast collection of antiquities in the future. Both sides have also pledged to work together to prevent the museum from acquiring stolen works in the future.

The deal appeared similar to the one Italian officialsmade with New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art earlier this year for the return of many artifacts, including the Euphronios krater, a vase dating from the 6th-century BC and which has been a centrepiece of the Met's holdings for more than three decades.

In the past few years, both Italy and Greece have been aggressively pursuing the return of their archeological artifacts from museums and galleries around the globe, making similar deals and by prosecuting those suspected of selling or acquiring stolen or looted artifacts.

Most prominently, former J. Paul Getty Museum curator Marion True and U.S. art dealer Robert Hecht are on trial in Rome, where they are accused of being involved in illegally dealing Italian artifacts.

Officials at the Getty in California have also been negotiating with both the Italian as well as the Greek government about returning disputed artifacts from its collection.

An Italian law specifies that any antiquities found in Italy must be turned over to the state.