The wealth and quality of the cultural heritage that makes Italy an "Open Museum" comes with a big responsibility to constantly guard and defend it. Old treasures, smuggled from Italy and recently recovered by Guardia di Finanza (a special police corps that reports directly to the Minister of Economic and Financial Affairs), will be on display at the Embassy of Italy.

Alexander Nagel, PhD, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Anthropology, will present the lecture "Drinking, Dining, and Displaying: Feasting, Food and Wine in Ancient Rome".