An Italian judge on Monday turned down a prosecutor's request to seize a famed ancient Greek bronze statue Italy claims was illegally smuggled out of the country.

The 3rd-century BC statue, believed to be the handiwork of the famous Greek sculptor Lysippus, was the single greatest work not included in a recent agreement between Italy and the John Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

The figure of a man has been contested ever since it claimed pride of place in the Getty Collection, entitled the 'Getty Bronze'.

Italian prosecutors say it was smuggled out of Italy after being fished out of the Adriatic in 1964.

The US museum says there is no proof it was in Italian waters.

The Getty agreed to postpone a decision on the bronze until the completion of legal proceedings in this north Adriatic town.

Monday's decision is a blow to Italy's battle to claim the work.

Prosecutors and heritage bodies say they will appeal to the Court of Cassation, Italy's highest appeals court.

A first batch of long-contested antiquities arrived in Rome from the Getty on October 2.

A formal accord in which the American institute promised to hand over the art treasures, including a famous 5th-century BC statue of Aphrodite, was signed by the two sides in Rome on September 25.

The Aphrodite, another touchstone of the Getty collection, is scheduled to come back in 2010.

The other 39 antiquities are being flown to Italy in batches and should be in Rome by Christmas.

The works will be collected in a ''transitional site'' in Rome to begin with. When they are all are back, a special exhibition will be set up to show them off to the public.

The accord with the Californian museum resolved a long and bitter dispute over the antiquities, with Italy initially demanding the return of 49 and the Getty offering to hand back no more than 26.

Talks on the disputed artefacts hit a crisis point last year when the Italian government threatened to cut ties with the museum unless they were returned.

Under the deal, Italy and the Getty agreed to bolster their cultural relations through the loaning of important art works, joint exhibitions, research and conservation projects.

The deal with the Getty was the third between Italy and major US institutions.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts have also agreed to return key parts of their classical collections in return for loans of equivalent value.

Princeton University has since inked a similar deal for the return of eight Etruscan and Greek artefacts. Italy is now seeking similar accords with institutes in Cleveland, Denmark and Japan.

Meanwhile, in the first case of its kind, Rome is trying two Americans, former Getty curator Marion True and antiquities dealer Robert Hecht, for knowingly acquiring smuggled artefacts. Both deny wrongdoing.

The Getty's former curator, Mario True, is on trial in Rome on charges of knowingly acquiring plundered artefacts.