De Gasperi's grandson returns to Greece a vase the country gave to the statesman

Returning to Greece is an important 5th-century B.C. Attic vase that was given to Alcide De Gasperi during an official visit to Athens between Jan. 9 and 10, 1953. De Gasperi, then prime minister, obtained the vase as a gift to his Greek counterpart, Prime Minister Alexandros Papagos. The restitution ceremony was held last Sept. 20 at the Greek Embassy in Rome, and returning the vase to Greece was the statesman’s grandson, Paolo Catti De Gasperi, who handed the work over to the Greek minister of culture, Lina Mendoni.

It is a crater, or large vase that was used for mixing water and wine, attributed to the Painter of the Centauromachia in the Louvre (450 - 420 B.C.). One side of the crater depicts a scene of a warrior preparing to depart. At either end of the scene are depicted two male warriors in Thracian dress, holding spears. In the center of the scene, in front of a horse, a veiled female figure is depicted, holding a flask and anoinochoe (wine jug) with a three-lobed mouth, to offer a libation. On the other side are depicted three male, young, robed figures. The central figure rests on a podium while the one on the right holds, in his raised right hand, a cord. The outer side of the rim is surrounded by the representation of a lion among wild boars. On the neck band, on the first face only, upside-down lotus buds are depicted, while on the shoulder--on both faces--a jewel is depicted.

This was not a work that Paolo Catti De Gasperi possessed illegally: in fact, the ownership of the work was totally legitimate. It was a gesture of liberality on the part of De Gasperi’s grandson, who had expressed a desire to donate to Greece the family heirloom that had come to him from his grandfather. As he stated in his letter to the Greek Embassy in Rome, the crater was his property in an absolutely legal and documented manner. This is also evident from the photographic and print material of the time. However, he noted that he “considers that he belongs to our country, whose cultural heritage he admires. He, with this initiative, wants to contribute to the effort of our two countries to recover their cultural treasures that are abroad.” The crater will now be displayed at the Kerameikos Archaeological Museum near Athens.

The Greek Embassy in Rome assisted Paolo Catti De Gasperi in negotiations in order to approve the donation and export of the vase to Greece. The ceremony was attended by Ambassador Eleni Sourani, the De Gasperi family, Antonella Bonini of the Rome Office for the Export of Objects of Art and Antiquities, while Lina Mendoni was accompanied by the Head of the Documentation and Protection of Cultural Heritage Department, Vasiliki Papageorgiou.

“A very important classical vase from the fifth century B.C. returns to Greece, after the very kind gesture of Mr. Paolo Catti De Gasperi, nephew of Italian Prime Minister Alcide de Gasperi,” commented Minister Mendoni. “We thank him especially because, although he owned it perfectly legally, he felt the need and had the generosity to return it to Greece. It is a family heirloom, linked to the recent history of both Greece and Italy. It was the gift offered by the then Greek prime minister, Marshal Alexandros Papagos, to the Italian prime minister, expressing his gratitude for his decisive contribution to the agreement to reunify the Dodecanese with Greece. Greece and Italy have joined forces many times and achieved very important returns in terms of cultural assets. This, however, is a completely different case because we are offered a vase that Mr. De Gasperi owned perfectly legally. This move of his highlights the ecumenical and humanitarian principles that governed him and his family. I thank our ambassador in Rome, Eleni Sourani, for all the mediation effort she made so that the competent Director of Documentation and Protection of Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Culture, Vasiliki Papageorgiou, received the crater today.”

De Gasperi's grandson returns to Greece a vase the country gave to the statesman

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