Italy Moves Toward a Panel to Return Nazi-Looted Art

Italy is moving toward a formal way to return art taken from victims of Nazi persecution. A bill before parliament would create a five-member committee to decide who gets back works seized during the Holocaust era, The Art Newspaper reported.

The bill was introduced in March by Federico Mollicone, a lawmaker from Brothers of Italy, the party led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Mollicone is also president of the culture commission in the lower house of parliament, the Chamber of Deputies. The bill is now being examined by that committee.

The committee would look at works confiscated, looted or sold under duress because of racial persecution between 1933 and 1945. Sold under duress means sold because the owner was forced to, through threat or pressure, rather than by choice. To answer these cases, the panel would examine provenance, the documented history of who owned a work and when.

The five members would assess individual claims and issue decisions on restitution, or the return of a work. Works would go back to the original owners or their heirs. If no living heirs can be identified, the work would go to the Jewish community in Italy.

If the bill becomes law, the government would have six months to set up the system. Italy would then join Germany, Austria, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, which already have restitution mechanisms of their own.

For families still searching for pieces taken from their relatives, the proposal would create one official route to ask for a decision.