Pompeii 'curse' myth: Tourist returns stones stolen from ancient city with letter saying she has since been diagnosed with breast cancer
Getty Images | Gabriel Zuchtriegel on X
- A woman claimed she was "cursed" after stealing artifacts from Pompeii.
- She said she was diagnosed with breast cancer within a year of taking pumice stones from the ruins.
- She returned the stones to the site along with a letter explaining her situation.
A woman who said she was diagnosed with breast cancer after stealing artifacts from Pompeii said she hadn't' known about "the curse," referencing a myth that stealing from the site brings bad luck.
The unnamed woman returned the stolen pumice stones along with a letter, written in English, apologizing for her actions and explaining her situation.
"I didn't know about the curse," the letter reads. "I didn't know that I should not take any rocks."
"I am a young and healthy female, and doctors said it was 'just bad luck.' Please accept my apology and these pieces," it continues, before concluding: "Mi dispiace," which means "I'm sorry" in Italian.
Gabriel Zuchtriegel, the director of the Pompeii archaeological park, in southern Italy, shared a photo of the letter and the stones in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Zuchtriegel wrote: "Dear anonymous sender of this letter … the pumice stones arrived in Pompeii… now good luck for your future & in bocca al lupo, as we say in Italy," an idiomatic expression meaning "good luck" in Italian.
Many tourists who have stolen artifacts from the site have sent apology letters citing a "curse," Zuchtriegel told Italy's RaiNews, per the Daily Mail.
He added that "stealing goods from archaeological sites is a crime and we must report everything to the authorities."
Ruins of Roman city have long been targeted by thieves
Atlantide Phototravel/Getty Images
In 2020, a similar incident occurred when a Canadian woman named Nicole returned artifacts she had taken from Pompeii, including mosaic tiles, amphora vase pieces, and part of a ceramic wall.
Nicole said in a letter delivered with the pieces that she had been plagued by bad luck since she took the parts in 2005, suffering twice from breast cancer and also enduring financial difficulties.
"Please, take them back, they bring bad luck," she wrote, per The Guardian.
The Roman city of Pompeii was famously preserved by volcanic ash after Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD.
It has long been targeted by thieves looking to sell artifacts to art dealers around the world.
But Italy's art police have been clamping down on such thefts in the country in recent years.
In May 2023, the Carabinieri arrested 16 people and recovered more than 3,500 artifacts that had been looted during illegal digs, Reuters reported.
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