The exhibit Rediscovered Treasures: Stories of Crimes and Stolen Artifacts at MANN (Il Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli) is described by the museum as "A Journey into the illicit trafficking of artworks- criminals, investigations, and extraordinary recoveries- in defense of legality, Italy's cultural heritage, and our collective identity."

The exhibition is a testament to the intense inter-institutional collaborative work done between the Museum and the Public Prosecutor's Office of Naples (the two have a Memorandum of Understanding guiding investigations, research and cultural property protection) as well as other institutions. This exhibition is an educational tool to raise awareness among the public of the inner workings of the criminal operations of the art world, specifically the consequences to humanity of clandestine archeological excavations, trafficking of cultural property out of the Italian peninsula and illegal art markets. The beginning of the exhibition analyzes art collecting over the years, which the experts involved here believe has fueled the illicit excavations and smuggling. The exhibition then concentrates on the global trafficking networks and law enforcement's international efforts to prevent and recover works.

As you enter the exhibition space, you are greeted by a1st century BCE marble statue of a young dancing satyr holding grapes in his right hand. This statue was in the private collection of a famous 19 century antiquities dealer named Raffaele Gargiulo. This piece was one of the first artworks to be confiscated by authorities on the Italian peninsula after its exportation was prohibited. The Naples Museum took responsibility for its care in 1842.

Continuing through this "journey into illicit trafficking," you view numerous exquisite artifacts accompanied by the descriptions of their looting or theft and recoveries. There is a late 1- early 2 century AD sleeping nymph without a known provenance that was in the collection of the late Jerry Eisenberg, once the owner of Royal Athena Galleries in New York. There are three funerary slabs that were in the private collection of the famous Maria Callas. These are exquisite examples of Hellenistic funerary paintings that originated in the Tomb of the Warrior that were prevalent in the painting of the Lucani tribe who controlled the area of Paestum during the 4 century BC. There are numerous examples of pottery from Magna Grecia. There is even an interesting display of the tools that the tomb raiders (tombaroli) use to excavate.

There are several high-profile cases discussed, most notably that of the organigram that was discovered when an ex-captain of the Guardia di Finanza named Pasquale Camera died in a car accident. The carabinieri who investigated the accident found numerous photos of artifacts in the glove box which led to search warrants of his home in which was discovered antiquities, hundreds of photos of evidentiary value and a paper the was an organigram outlining a vast criminal network of antiquities smugglers. This all eventually led to the collapse of a huge criminal enterprise and the forced cooperation of the J.P. Getty Museum into handing over a great many artifacts to the Republic of Italy.

For many years the Italian Carabinieri's Tutela Patrimonio Culturale (TPC) Unit, the elite specialized unit that handles all cultural property and art crime investigations, has worked honorably and diligently to fight crimes against Italy's cultural patrimony and the investigative findings of the Carabinieri TPC of Naples fueled the cases that the Prosecutor's Office of Naples zealously pursued, many of which are presented in this exhibition.

It is from this effort and the vast collection in the depositories that the pieces in this exhibition have come from.

The exhibition was originally scheduled to end on 30 September 2025 but has now been extended through October 13, 2025.