Special agents return stolen antique books returned to Italian owner

Two antique books stolen from Italy’s Historical National Library of Agriculture were discovered in the Bay Area and are being returned this week.

Special agents with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations said they made the discovery among 19 other cultural treasures sold to a U.S. buyer in the San Francisco area.

Agents said they met with the buyer and he willingly handed the books over. The two volumes are “Stirpium Historiae” and “Rariorm Plantarum Historia Anno 1601.”

Investigators said those books along and other items looted from their Italian owner and smuggled into the U.S. over the past several years.