Stolen Etruscan sphinx recovered north of Rome

Artifact stolen from Cerveteri museum in May

(ANSA) - Rome, September 18 - Finance police on Thursday recovered an Etruscan sphinx stolen from a museum at a UNESCO world heritage site in May. The winged marble sculpture was found hidden among vegetation on a rural property north of Rome. It had been stolen from the museum at Cerveteri, a major Etruscan site in northern Lazio, on the night of May 14 by three masked thieves captured on surveillance camera. The artifact was considered one of the most important Italian missing works of art. The Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tarquinia were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2004.