Statue's Head Returned to Italians

In 1983 thieves hacked off the head of an ancient statue of Dionysus that had rested in Mussolini's old villa in Rome and carted the piece away. It turned up in a Japanese museum, and later in a Christie's auction catalog. Yesterday, in New York, the Italian government got it back.

A consular official swept away an Italian flag to reveal the head, about the size of a large grapefruit, to reporters. Raymond W. Kelly, New York City's police commissioner, and Antonio Bandini, the Italian consul-general, presided over the event at the Italian consulate on Park Avenue.

"On behalf of the New York Police Department, I'm pleased to bring you the head of Dionysus," Mr. Kelly said. Given the popularity of Italian wine among New Yorkers, "it's fitting now we bring Bacchus to where it belongs," he said, using the Roman name for the god of wine and revelry.