Cosenza: the Carabinieri return 83 seized cultural objects

On the morning of April 18, at the National Archaeological Museum of Capo Colonna, the Commander of the Carabinieri Cultural Heritage Protection Unit of Cosenza handed over ABAP for the provinces of Catanzaro and Crotone to the Superintendent 83 cultural assets, recovered as part of investigation activities coordinated by the Public Prosecutor's Office of Crotone. The event took place in the presence of the Vicar Prefect of Crotone, the Chief Prosecutor of the Republic of Crotone, the Commander of the Calabria Carabinieri Legion, the Director of the National Archaeological Museum of Capo Colonna and the city's civil, military and religious authorities.

Cultural heritage, consisting of precious archaeological and paleontological finds and an ancient naval cannon from the 17th century. A.D, were recovered during two separate investigations, conducted by the Carabinieri TPC Unit of Cosenza between May 2017 and July 2018 and from December 2021 to August 2023. The first investigative activity made it possible to dismantle a criminal syndicate, operating on a national and international scale (with ramifications in Great Britain, France, Germany and Serbia), dedicated to the commission of crimes of damage to the archaeological heritage of the State, illicit seizure of cultural property belonging to the State, receiving stolen goods and illicit export and in the final phase an ordinance was executed Of precautionary measure against 23 people and 80 search warrants against as many subjects under investigation in a state of freedom.

The second, however, originated from a check in the areas immediately adjacent to the Capo Colonna archaeological park, during which the presence of the cannon reused as an ornament inside the courtyard of a private home, allowed a person to be referred to the AG for the crime of receiving stolen goods and the recovery of numerous archaeological and paleontological finds, as well as the cannon itself, assets illicitly stolen over the years from the national heritage. Both of the aforementioned investigative activities were carried out in close collaboration with the archaeological officials of the ABAP Superintendence for the provinces of Catanzaro and Crotone and the teachers of the Department of Biology, Ecology and Earth Sciences of the University of Calabria in Arcavacata di Rende (CS), thanks to which it was possible to establish the nature and provenance of all the recovered cultural assets.

The materials seized are in total dating back to between the Iron Age and the Roman Age and find close comparisons with those found in Torre del Mordillo (Spezzano Albanese, CS), now preserved in the Brettii and Enotri Museum of Cosenza, or present in the archaeological area of ​​Capo Colonna and in the seabed in front. There are metal objects, weaving tools (spindles and loom weights), vascular finds (amphorae, commonly used containers for food and drink) and architectural elements. Among the latter, they stand out for their importance some fragments of Greek marble tiles comparable to those preserved in the Capo Colonna Museum which from the 5th century BC covered the sanctuary of Hera Lacinia at Capo Colonna, object of spoliation in Roman times.

Dating back to the 5th century BC it is also a fragment of terracotta covering slab with palmette decoration which finds a direct comparison with the surviving one of Building B of Capo Colonna. A stone base can also be attributed to the Capo Colonna area, and in particular to the Roman domus from the 1st century BC.

Also fossil goods come from Mio-Pliocene sedimentary successions of the same geographical area as Capo Colonna, while the cannon had been removed from the seabed in front of that location.

The return of recovered cultural assets to the State's heritage is the result of complex actions, carried out in close synergy with the central and peripheral bodies of the MiC, as well as the commitment and professionalism of women and men, military and civilian, highly specialized in the specific sector, which have made it possible to save important testimonies of the collective identity that they tell us their history and, by extension, ours.