Cultural Heritage Protection: Over 2014 Italian Treasures Recovered in 3700.

In 2024 the Carabinieri of the Cultural Heritage Protection Unit of Bari, with inter-regional jurisdiction over Puglia and Basilicata, have recovered and returned to the heritage Italian cultural heritage a total of 3713 cultural assets at risk of definitive dispersion on the national and international territory.

The operational activity highlights, in 2024, the following statistical data in comparison with those of 2023, also analysed in relation to the two-year period that has passed since the entry into force of Law no. 22 of 22 March 2022, which provided for the inclusion in the Criminal Code of 17 new articles, bringing a severe toughening of penalties for crimes relating to cultural heritage:
– increase in people reported for theft of cultural goods (from 27 to 34);
– increase in people reported for clandestine excavation (from 21 to 35);
– increase in people reported for illegal export (from 17 to 38);
– increase in people reported for landscape crimes (from 46 to 65);
– increase in people reported for criminal association (from 2 to 30);
– increase in people reported for the crime of receiving stolen goods (from 51 to 108);
– increase in people reported for the crime of damage (from 8 to 40).
– increase in seizures of:
– antiquarian, archival and book goods (from 18 to 427);
– archaeological goods (from 2560 to 3286) of which archaeological numismatics (from 2164 to 2213);
– an increase in the number of people reported to the Judicial Authority (from 95 to 157).

It is also a gradual decrease in thefts of cultural goods has been detected went from 15 to 6. 24 house and premises searches were carried out which have allowed il recovery of 427 archival and library cultural assets (historical documents and manuscripts), 3286 archaeological finds (ceramics, pottery and numismatic goods) and 22 works of art false, for an overall estimated economic value of approximately €2.827.500,00, if placed on the market.

Particular emphasis was given to the international traffic of archaeological finds and to the surveillance of archaeological sites scattered throughout the territory of the two regions of competence. Moreover, much of the national archaeology comes from these areas.then illegally marketed abroad.

In this framework, in 2024, measures were adopted aimed atidentification of those directly responsible for the excavations illegal that of the users of the archaeological assets uprooted from the territory. The investigations into the particular phenomenon have allowed the referral to the Judicial Authority of 35 people for the specific crime of clandestine excavation but also, through the careful monitoring of e-commerce platforms, which have now become the preferred channels for the buying and selling of art objects, the recovery of 415 finds archaeological finds dating back to the 2nd and 5th centuries BC, illegally held and displayed in homes private of esteemed professionals.

Another sector of crucial importance in regions such as Puglia and Basilicata is certainly landscape protection. In this context, activities aimed at pursuing the creation of illegal construction works or constructions carried out in breach of approved projects in historic centres or in any case in areas subject to architectural or landscape constraints.

The people reported in the particular sector are 54, with the seizure of structures and properties for residential use, built in restricted areas in the absence or in breach of urban planning and landscape permits, spoiling the protected context of reference (Tremiti and Trani Islands).

In terms of preventive and control activities, the following were carried out:
− 88 checks at commercial establishments, markets and antiques fairs;
− 9 anti-crime security checks of museums, libraries and archives with the aim of identifying critical points of the defensive systems;
− 88 checks in the archaeological areas considered potentially most exposed to
criminal assaults, carried out jointly with personnel from the Superintendencies, the 6th Helicopter Unit of Bari and the Territorial Force;
− 115 checks on areas protected by landscape constraints;
− 862 checks of cultural assets in the Database of Illegally Stolen Cultural Assets.
– 4 December 2024 (provinces of Foggia, Bari and Rome): an order for the application of a precautionary measure against 4 individuals, promoters of a criminal association of a total of 32 people, responsible for
criminal association for the purpose of clandestine excavation, theft, receiving stolen goods
and illicit export of archaeological finds.

The investigation, conventionally called “ART SHARING”, has had a significant impact on the criminal dynamics that attack the national and international cultural/archaeological heritage, allowing the disarticulation of the structure dedicated to the supply and export abroad of archaeological ceramic finds from territorial areas of Puglia, Basilicata, Campania and Lazio, which were conveyed abroad through a fictitious auction house with
Headquarters in Belgium (Antwerp), which provided them with documentation falsely attesting to the authenticity and lawful provenance of the goods.

During the complex investigations, a total of 250 cultural assets (finds
archaeological finds in earthenware material, jewels, rare and valuable coins), among which 31 finds ceramics in Spain (Granada), 24 archaeological coins in Valencia and a sarcophagus from Roman times in Belgium (Brussels). Procedures are underway for their repatriation on 11 September 2024 (Berlin).

They were repatriated by the German National Museum of Berlin “ALTES” 21 Apulian craters, proceeds of clandestine excavations carried out in the 80s in an archaeological area in the municipality of Ascoli Satriano (FG).

The investigations, conducted by this Unit and coordinated by the Public Prosecutor's Office of Foggia, have allowed us to establish that the Museum had purchased, in good faith, the entire funeral trousseau, which had been illegally exported abroad by a well-known Italian art trafficker.

During the legal proceedings, the German government, having ascertained that the works actually belong to the Italian cultural heritage, following agreements with the Italian government, returned the 21 vases, repatriated last September, and exhibited at the Villa Giulia museum in Rome. The same will soon be able to be admired in museums in Puglia.

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