[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_4473.jpeg?w=909″]<\/p>\n
\n\tIs Italy\u2019s famous 6th-century BCE statue known as the \u201cWarrior of Capestrano\u201d a Mussolini-backed forgery? Recently granted permission to test the mysterious statue, held in Abruzzo\u2019s National Archaeology Museum in Chieti, central Italy, may have the answers, reports the Times of London<\/em>.<\/p>\n \n\tThe over-two-meters-high, imposing limestone figure, adorned with a wide-brimmed hat, its arms crossed upon an hourglass-shaped body outfitted with intricately carved armor and weapons, was discovered buried in an Abruzzo vineyard in 1934, along with several items believed to have been part of the ancient city of Aufinum. Since then, archaeologists have largely agreed that the Warrior of Capestrano is a pre-Roman artifact from the Piceni civilization, and the oldest Italic statue of such monumental proportions. The finding soon became a national symbol of the region\u2019s ancient history, and is a regular fixture of local souvenir shops, postage stamps, and the Abruzzo coat of arms. <\/p>\n \n\tBut what if it was, in fact, a fabricated tool of Benito Mussolini\u2019s fascist propaganda machine, used to unify the country around a symbol of shared heritage and military strength? That is what documentary filmmaker, journalist, and science writer Alessio Consorte has been asking for years. His 2023 documentary film, making that claim, cites as proof a signed letter by a Jesuit priest at the Vatican\u2019s institute for Christian archaeology, among other alleged irregularities. According to Consorte, the Vatican letter also backs the theory that the statue was made by an antiquarian from Naples, working with the same farmer who claimed to have found it. Further, Consorte alleges the statue was modeled on Mussolini\u2019s own portrait\u2014despite the stone figure appearing to wear a funerary mask. As Consorte tells it, the two men behind the scheme were awarded the equivalent of \u20ac17,000 for their \u201carchaeological discovery,\u201d by the fascist state at the time.<\/p>\n \n\tFor about three years, Consorte, who is from Abruzzo, has been fighting the Italian culture ministry in court for permission to test the sculpture\u2019s authenticity on his own dime, using non-invasive X-ray machines, and with the cooperation of a group of independent scientific experts.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWhy should these people today be represented by a fake warrior?\u201d Consorte told the Times<\/em>. \u201cShould children or university archaeology students spend years studying a statue that is not actually genuine? What sort of education are they receiving?\u201d <\/p>\n \n\tMaking matters worse, a letter signed by Federica Zalabra, regional director of the National Museum of Abruzzo, along with Italy\u2019s ministry of culture, formally denied permission to test the sculpture, under the pretext that such tests had already been done. However, when Consorte asked to see the results, a court-appointed commissioner concluded no such documentation existed in the museum\u2019s archives.<\/p>\n \n\tIn February, following administrative court rulings in Consorte\u2019s favor, the ministry finally greenlighted the tests, which will be led by a team of scientists, including Consorte, and a member of the National Research Council. But in May, a new contract from the Ministry of Culture authorizing testing came with a catch: \u201cWhen they sent us the contract to sign, they attached an additional document that required the utmost secrecy and prohibited publication without their consent,\u201d Consorte told ARTnews<\/em> in an email. \u201cThe document provides for clauses concerning reputational damages, criminal prosecution, and civil liability for compensation.\u201d <\/p>\n \n\tIn response, Consorte filed an appeal earlier this month with the local Administrative Court in Pescara, asking that the Ministry of Culture and the Regional Directorate of Museums, which oversees the museum in Chieti, remove the clauses requiring government consent to disclose results. The restriction \u201cis a form of censorship and is contrary to the freedom of scientific research and dissemination,\u201d Conosorte argued further in his email to ARTnews<\/em>. \u201cFor me, scientific evidence is indisputable, whether the results are favorable or unfavorable.\u201d A hearing for the appeal is still pending. <\/p>\n \n\tWhatever future tests do ultimately reveal, the wide-hatted warrior arguably deserves a spot in the country\u2019s national museums, albeit for possibly different reasons that have to do with Italy\u2019s more recent, dramatic past.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-news\/news\/warrior-of-capestrano-icon-ancient-italian-heritage-mussolini-backed-fake-1234792883\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_4473.jpeg?w=909″] Is Italy\u2019s famous 6th-century BCE statue known as the \u201cWarrior of Capestrano\u201d a Mussolini-backed forgery? Recently granted permission to test the mysterious statue, held in Abruzzo\u2019s National Archaeology Museum in Chieti, central Italy, may have the answers, reports the Times of London. The over-two-meters-high, imposing limestone figure, adorned with a wide-brimmed hat, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-2054939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2054939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2054939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2054939\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2054939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2054939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2054939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}