Govt working to bring back Stabia Doryphoros - minister

(ANSA) - ROME, MAR 4 - The government is working to bring back the Stabia Doryphoros from the United States to Italy, Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano said on Monday The ancient statue, a Roman copy of the Doryphoros (lance bearer) classical Greek sculpture, was illegally excavated in the 1970s at Castellammare di Stabia, near Naples, and taken out of the country.
    It is currently at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, which bought it in 1986.
    Italian prosecutors have issued an international warrant for the artwork to be impounded and returned, but this has not happened, despite repeated calls from the Italian culture ministry.
    "We are working on it," Sangiuliano said when asked about the case of the statue during a visit to Castellammare di Stabia.
    "We have also suspended the usual exchange of artworks with the Minneapolis museum.
    "We no longer lend works to museums in disputes with Italy.
    "Thanks to the efforts of the Carabinieri police and the Italian judiciary, in just over a year we have brought back 400 artifacts, above all from the USA and Great Britain". (ANSA).