Legacy of Napoleon's artistic plunder on show in Rome

When he was just plain old Bonaparte, the man who was to became Napoleon pillaged works of art from all over Europe with the aim of making the Louvre in Paris a museum for all mankind.

Now some of the major works that the little corporal's armies took from Italy have been gathered together in an exhibition in Rome to mark the 200th anniversary of their restitution, and the unexpectedly positive legacy of the whole episode.

"When the works came back, it made people here realize the importance of their artistic heritage, and, for the first time, they came to see it as a shared, common asset," says museum director Mario De Simoni.