(By Denis Greenan).

(ANSA) - Reggio Calabria - Italy's world-famous ancient Greek warrior statues, the Riace Bronzes, are still out in the cold more than two years after being moved out of a museum in their Calabrian home.

The bronzes, one of Italy's most-loved cultural icons, have been lying on their backs in the home of the Calabrian regional government as the planned 'restyling' of Reggio Calabria's nearby National Archaeological Museum has become a victim of budget cuts and red tape.

Calabria's archaeological superintendent, Simonetta Bonomi, put a brave face on the case, telling ANSA that a tender to redesign the museum had "finally" been published.

"I know it's sad to see them lying down like that but we can't put them back upright until they're back in their natural habitat, the archaeological museum," she added.

Bonomi stressed that restoration work on the statues was "completed a good while ago, in 2011," and now "they're only going to need sporadic checks". Bonomi admitted that the estimated 100,000-plus annual visitors to the statues' temporary site had been "a bit dismayed" to see them laid on bedding in Palazzo Campanella, the regional council venue.

She predicted that the work on the Archaeological Museum, which had housed the precious works for almost three decades, "should be completed by the end of this year or at the most the first few months of 2014". The bronzes' trip across town to the council site was supposed to be a brief one.

When they left the Archaeological Museum on December 22, 2012, officials said it was "just for a six-month restoration".

The move was the first time in 28 years that the priceless 2,500-year-old bronzes had left the Museo Nazionale di Reggio Calabria.

The only previous occasion they were let out was in 1981, for a triumphant round-Italy tour.

At the time of the move, Bonomi said "they will be looked over and restored to full glory hopefully by the end of June next year (2010)".

Bonomi said they would not be "too disturbed" at the restoration workshop, since their clean-up performed by experts from Rome's National Restoration Institute would be "merely conservative in nature''.

The statues of two warriors were placed in special 'coffins' and taken to the regional council building in climate-controlled vans.

Staff cheered as they were taken out and put inside a purpose-built area with a glass front through which visitors will be able to follow the restoration.

The Bronzes were in good company during their exile as several other prized pieces from the museum were moved as it revamped ahead of celebrations for the 150th anniversary of Italian unification in 2011.

The other items included a head of a philosopher, a bearded male head (the so-called Basel Head), both in bronze, a marble sarcophagus, the 'Kouros', or archetype of a young male athlete, and statues of the demi-gods Castor and Pollux - all products like the Riace Bronzes of the ancient Greek civilisation that once dominated southern Italy.

The warriors are cherished as symbols of Calabria and the region has been loth to let them be moved.

In 2004 Calabrian authorities refused permission for them to travel to the Olympic Games in Athens.

In July 2009 it said No to then premier Silvio Berlusconi when he wanted to include them among ''Italian icons'' for a Group of Eight summit in L'Aquila.

Their 1981 tour, which sold out venues in Rome, Florence and Milan, was the only time they were allowed out since they were discovered in the sea off Reggio more than 40 years ago.

NO TO COPIES TOO.

Calabria has repeatedly refused permission for copies of the statues to be made, rejecting pleas for Italian promotional events worldwide and for the 2001 G8 summit in Genoa - its first refusal to Berlusconi.

In a citywide vote in 2003, the people of Reggio Calabria came out overwhelmingly against the ''cloning'' of the statues, which have been the Calabrian capital's biggest tourist draw since they were discovered.

However, a recent ruling by Italy's highest administrative tribunal, the Council of State, appeared to open the way for their long-feared reproduction.

But a final decision has yet to be made.

The Bronzes were discovered in 1972 by a Roman holidaymaker scuba diving off the Calabrian coast and turned out to be one of Italy's most important archaeological finds in the last 100 years.

The statues are of two virile men, presumably warriors or gods, who possibly held lances and shields at one time. At around two metres, they are larger than life.

The 'older' man, known as Riace B, wears a helmet, while the 'younger' Riace A has nothing covering his rippling hair.

Both are naked.

Although the statues are cast in bronze, they feature silver lashes and teeth, copper red lips and nipples, and eyes made of ivory, limestone and a glass and amber paste.

Italy has the world's biggest trove of archeological treasures but the Riace Bronzes attracted particular attention.

This was partly due to their exceptionally realistic rendering and partly to the general rarity of ancient bronze statues, which tended to be melted down and recycled.

Stefano Mariottini, the scuba diver who first spotted one of the statues some 300 meters off the coast and eight metres underwater, said the bronze was so realistic that he initially thought he'd found the remains of a corpse.

A million people came to see them in 1981 and the pair were even featured on a commemorative postage stamp.

The statues pulled in an average 130,000 visitors a year during their time at the Reggio Calabria museum.