Italian publicity of a criminal trial against an American corrupts its legitimacy. The Italian government is certainly not a disinterested prosecutor in a case against a foreigner where the issue cuts at the heart of nationalist politics. The government has on record spoken of her ‘obvious guilt’ without having tried her yet or even providing factual assertions. If fact finding were the only purpose, the Italian government would have indicted far more museum directors to discover the extent of their involvement which seems as likely as hers. Its main purpose is to turn the content-free case of True’s trial, of which we read little of the testimonial details in the newspaper, into a powerfully symbolic cause célèbre inspiring a new alacrity among museums to negotiate with the Italian government. Symbolism mystifies our perception of the ‘real world’ to empower what is otherwise powerless, hence Also sprach Zarathustra.

True's Trial as a War Offensive

True’s trial is more than about fact finding, it is an offensive in a war against American cultural ‘invasions’ despite the paradox that Italian citizens loot, smuggle, counterfeit documents for, and sell the antiquities. Describing it as an offensive is apposite where the Italian government threatens to order a ‘cultural embargo’ against the Getty when the institution remains hesitant despite the indictment. Likewise, it felt threatened by attorney Robert Olson’s invitation to the American ambassador to witness the negotiations. The Italian government understood this move to represent a form of political pressure over an issue it regards as largely cultural, to be dealt by cultural ministers. This characterization misses two problems. First, the Italian government knows that charging a foreign citizen with a crime represents a diplomatic measure largely political. Second, the Italian government confessed that it discontinued negotiations with the Getty at the brink of resolution because the political environment in Italy precluded agreement without a contested statue at stake. It is and always has been a political issue, and True’s trial represents a political tool in achieving vittoria against the museum outlaws. Indeed, the government declared such an achievement in an exhibition recently entitled Nostoi, a word signifying the peril afflicting the Greek heroes’ return after the Trojan War.

Conclusion: A Modern Show Trial

The Soviet show trials under Stalin define the show trial itself in the modern lexicon. In many instances, the Bolshevik state and the accused saw these show trials as a step forward in the march of history. The trials served less as a factual inquiry than as a historical event to solidify the conversion and rebirth of the collectivist soul of communist Russia. In a much less pernicious manner and on a far smaller scale, True’s trial also functions as a historical event to achieve the goal of repatriation after domestic failures to contain the cultural items. Whether True is innocent or guilty, the Italian state has fulfilled its destiny to have all its antiquities returned home. She is, quite literally, on show for all the world to discover nothing, yet see everything.