Six frescoes stolen from ancient villas in Pompeii, the world-famous Roman city destroyed by a violent volcanic eruption in 79 CE, were returned to the archeological park by Italy's Carabinieri police on Tuesday.

The frescoes are believed to have been stolen from ancient Roman houses in Pompeii and Stabia, another site a few kilometers from Pompeii, as far back as the 1970s.

They were then smuggled out of the country and sold to collectors in the U.S., Switzerland and the UK.

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A special art squad unit of the Carabinieri, Italy's military police, intercepted and confiscated the three Stabia frescoes last year while on a broader investigation into stolen archeological artifacts, while the others were found in 2012 before the thieves were able to smuggle them out of Italy.

Massimo Osanna, Italy's director general of museums, described the return of the frescoes to Pompeii's archeological park as "a victory of legality against the phenomenon of illegal excavations and the traffic of artworks and ancient archeological finds."

Those charged with the theft of the frescoes are now on trial. 

Pompeii, near Naples in southern Italy, is recognized as one of the archeological wonders of the world but has long suffered from neglect from the Italian authorities, natural disasters such as flooding and acts of vandalism from tourists and art thieves.

But this isn't the first time artefacts stolen from Pompeii have made their way back to the site: In October 2020, a Canadian woman shipped back to Pompeii two mosaic tiles, parts of an amphora and a piece of ceramics she had stolen from the ancient site saying they were "cursed," while in March 2014 a stolen fresco was returned to Pompeii via post from Florence.

_{Cover image: Pompeii Archeological Park}