BEIJING, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Sunday visited the exhibition of recently returned Chinese artifacts from Italy at the National Museum of China.

The exhibition, titled "The Journey Back Home," showcases more than 700 pieces of returned Chinese artifacts including a painted pottery pot from the Western Han Dynasty (202 B.C.-8 A.D.) and a colored camel pottery figurine from the Tang Dynasty (618-907).

China and Italy have formed a close friendship through long-standing economic, trade and cultural exchanges, laid a solid foundation for cooperation, which facilitated the return of the cultural relics, said Conte.

China and Italy should further strengthen cultural exchanges and promote the relations between the two peoples, he added.

China and Italy exchanged related certificates for returning 796 Chinese cultural relics on March 23. This batch of Chinese artifacts arrived in Beijing on April 10.

This was the largest return of lost Chinese cultural relics in nearly 20 years, according to Luo Shugang, China's minister of Culture and Tourism. The exhibition started on April 24 and will remain open until June 30.