(ANSA) - ROME, APRIL 27 - Over 80,000 works of art recovered, for a value of just under 85 million euros.
This is the balance of the activity carried out last year by the Carabinieri Cultural Heritage Protection Command, whose database of works to be searched, with 1,300,000 files, is the oldest and most extensive in the world.
The specialized unit of the Arma, established in 1969 to honor article 9 of the Italian Constitution ("the Republic protects the landscape and the historical and artistic heritage of the nation"), in half a century of life, has returned to the public or to the legitimate owners more than three million cultural assets seized approximately 1.4 million forged works.
The operational activity of the Carabinieri of the Cultural Heritage Protection Command, placed in direct collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, revealed in 2022 a gradual decrease in crimes against cultural heritage, also in the light of the legislative innovations introduced in 2022 which have tightened up the sanctioning system, making it more effective repressive activity.
Among the recoveries in 2022, over 17 thousand were archaeological finds, more than 21 thousand paleontological but in the context of counterfeiting, 1,241 works were seized, of which 951 of contemporary art.
In addition, over 250 opalaeontological archaeological finds and antiquarian/archival and book assets were seized for an estimated total value of approximately 86 million euros, in the event that they had been placed on the market.
Against a slight decrease in thefts of cultural assets (-3.7%), the sector in which the greatest decrease was recorded (-30%) is that relating to thefts in exhibition venues, which went from 84 in 2021 to 58 in 2022. Finally in the past year there have been important recoveries: among these Orpheus and the Sirens, an interraced sculptural group from the end of the 4th century BC, stolen in the 70s in Taranto and brought back to Italy after having passed through the hands of various fences until it reached Switzerland for a restoration clandestine restoration and then purchased by the Paul Getty Museum in Malibu.
(HANDLE).
among these Orpheus and the Sirens, an interraced sculptural group from the end of the 4th century BC, stolen in the 70s in Taranto and brought back to Italy after passing through the hands of various fences until it reached Switzerland for a clandestine restoration and then purchased by the Paul Getty Museum of Malibu.
(HANDLE).
among these Orpheus and the Sirens, an interraced sculptural group from the end of the 4th century BC, stolen in the 70s in Taranto and brought back to Italy after passing through the hands of various fences until it reached Switzerland for a clandestine restoration and then purchased by the Paul Getty Museum of Malibu.
(HANDLE).