In Greek, the word nostos means homecoming; the plural is nostoi. Hence the title of an exhibition that Italy has organized to trumpet the return of dozens of ancient artifacts that until recently adorned showcases in American museums and private galleries.

"Nostoi: Recovered Masterpieces" does not pull its punches in explaining how those objects made their way abroad: They were looted from Italian archaeological sites.

Excavated "from the bowels of the earth," "deprived of their identity" and "reduced to mere objects of beauty, without a soul," these pieces "conclude their odyssey here today," Francesco Rutelli, Italy's culture minister, told reporters at a press briefing on Monday at the Quirinale, or presidential palace, where the show is to open on Friday.

He called the exhibition, which is free to the public, "a Christmas present."

The sprawling effort by Italy to negotiate the return of the antiquities is reflected in the exhibition placards: "Attic black-figure amphora with Heracles fighting Geryon, circa 540 BC, formerly J. Paul Getty Museum."

"Marble statue of Vibia Sabina, second century AD, formerly Museum of Fine Arts, Boston."

"Proto-Corinthian oinochoe" — a wine jug — "with snake, 700-675 BC, formerly Princeton University Art Museum."

"Apulian red-figure dinos" — a mixing bowl for wine and water — "with the myth of Busyrides, circa 340-320 BC, formerly Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York."

And so on. All told, 69 objects have been included in the exhibition. For Italian cultural officials and negotiators, the show is a declaration of victory in their long and often contentious negotiations for the return of such artifacts.

Along with the pieces from the four American museums (most, nearly 40, from the Getty's antiquities villa in Pacific Palisades, California), are 5 of 8 pieces that were returned this year from the Royal Athena Galleries in New York. The Greek government lent a statue from the sixth century BC of a kore, or maiden, to thank Italy for its help in pressing its own separate claims to items it says were looted.

Some objects in the show are the result of other recoveries, like the fragment from the first century BC of an ivory head that was seized in 2003 from the collection of a London dealer.

While the show clearly celebrates the success of the Italians' strategy — a mix of legal threats and moral suasion bolstered by a news media campaign — officials insisted that it was not meant to be triumphal in tone.

At the news conference Rutelli pointed out that Italy had made its own acts of restitution, returning hundreds of objects to their countries of origin, most prominently Pakistan and Iran. If Italy has reason to be proud, he said, it is for the role it played in "bringing about radical changes in the trade of looted antiquities."

Statements from the four American museums in the introduction to the exhibition similarly suggested no public ill will.

"An exhibition such as this serves to remind us all that we share a common heritage, and a reverence for artistic achievement that cannot but unite, rather than divide, us in the future," wrote Phillippe de Montebello, the Met's director.

While the Getty Villa will "greatly miss" the "carefully tended" objects returning to Italy, wrote that museum's director, Michael Brand, the Getty can celebrate the long-term loans offered by Italy as part of their accord.

"This exhibition stands as a significant milestone in the complex international debate over cultural patrimony," Brand said. One placard in the show was bereft of its object: the 2,500 year-old Euphronios krater. This showpiece, a vessel for mixing water and wine, is being returned by the Met but will not join the other artifacts until Jan. 15. (The exhibition runs through March 2.)

It is arguably the most emblematic piece in the exhibition, given that the Met led the way for the other American museums in brokering an accord, and the Italians had intermittently sought its return for more than three decades.

The museum relinquished the item, along with 20 other artifacts, after Italian negotiators presented evidence that they said confirmed its illicit provenance.

Such evidence of wrongdoing also spurred the other pacts. Adding to the pressure was the Rome trial of the antiquities dealer who sold the Met the piece, Robert Hecht, and of Marion True, the former curator of antiquities at the Getty. Both are charged with conspiracy to traffic in looted artifacts but deny the charges.

Rutelli said on Monday that the show could expand as investigations continued into the practices of other European, Asian and American institutions that he declined to name.

But rather than a sign of capitulation by the American museums, Italian officials said, the handovers reflect a sea change in attitudes in the museum world.

"It would be a little sad if in the end all of this was just the result of the prosecutors' threats and that American museums had only reacted because of legal questions," said Stefano De Caro, the culture ministry's director general of archaeology.

If that were so, he said, years' worth of discussions "would have been for nothing."

As to these claims from Rutelli, “Excavated ‘from the bowels of the earth,’ ‘deprived of their identity’ and ‘reduced to mere objects of beauty, without a soul,’” my family and I toured Italy extensively for about a month last year, and I’d unhesitatingly lay these same criticism at Italy’s door. They have innumerable magnificent artifacts, but the museums are out of date and insufficient, poorly organized, don’t give useful information about the items, etc. In particular the National Museum of Naples (which I’d also complain has no parking whatever), and the Capitoline Museum were experiences of simultaneous wonder and disgust for my family. The Italians, and clearly the Popes were the first and best looters of Roman artifacts.