Stolen art will go home

A stolen marble statue belonging to a family with ties to Mussolini made its way to Manhattan after its theft in the 1980s — and the feds are now working to return it to its rightful owners.

The “Torlonia Peplophoros” — a statue of a limbless, headless woman wearing a bodylength garment called a “peplos” — was swiped in 1983 from the Villa Torlonia in Rome, where the Italian dictator resided from 1925 to 1943, according to a federal court complaint filed Monday by US Attorney Preet Bharara.

The statue (above) was then imported into the US in the late ’90s by the owner of an unidentified New York art gallery and sold for $81,000 in 2001.

While trying to sell the piece through a New York auction house, the buyer discovered it was actually stolen — and voluntarily turned it over to the feds in late 2015, court papers say.

Bharara filed a civil forfeiture complaint in order to return the statue to Rome.

The Torlonia Peplophoros was one of 15 pieces that were stolen in November 1983, Bharara said.

It had been displayed with other artworks at the villa, which was purchased in 1797 by famous Vatican banker Giovanni Torlonia and later restored by Rome officials.

“We are proud to have recovered it, so it can finally be returned to its rightful owners,” Bharara said in a statement.