In the year 2023, the Carabinieri of the Cultural Heritage Protection Unit of Naples, with jurisdiction over the Campania region, in collaboration with the Territorial Force and the peripheral bodies of the Ministry of Culture, carried out multiple preventive and repressive activities.
With particular regard to the phenomenon of clandestine excavations and the related trafficking of archaeological finds as well as violations in landscape and monumental matters, without neglecting the protection of antiques and books, recording a notable increase in works subjected to seizure, even in foreign territory:
for a total of 3.397 recovered cultural assets, worth 2,5 million euros, part of which have already been returned to the public and private owners of Campania and numerous other Italian regions.
In particular, the constant monitoring of terrestrial and marine archaeological areas, also with the help of the CC Helicopter Unit of Pontecagnano and the CC Underwater Unit of Naples, and the telematic investigations carried out on e-commerce sales channels, have allowed the recovery of 2.258 archaeological finds in the reference year (against 2.134 in 2022), many of which have already been put into museums, being definitively returned to the State's unavailable heritage.
Still in the archaeological field, complex and detailed investigations, including transnational ones, have led to the referral of 17 people for clandestine excavations and 87 people for receiving stolen goods and illegal export of cultural goods.
Important actions have been undertaken in order to safeguard the architectural and landscape assets of Campania, carrying out approximately 360 inspections throughout the regional territory, which have led to the referral to the judicial authorities of 29 people for crimes against the landscape and to the seizure of important sites and monumental assets, including the historic Bayard Station, the first Naples-Portici railway station (1839), which has become an unauthorised private car park, and the Grotta dell'Annunziata of the Municipalities of Maiori and Minori,
this one also illegally used for parking and storage of boats.
Still in the landscape sector, tourist accommodation facilities located in restricted areas of the Cilento and Amalfi coast have been seized for illegal subdivision and destruction of a nature reserve, while approximately 40 monumental assets have been inspected in the city of Naples with the aim of returning them to the community, including the Church of San Biagio ai Taffettanari, the Historic Pharmacy of the Incurables, the Church of San Giuseppe dei Ruffi, the Cholera Cemetery, Villa Ebe etc., in a complex investigative activity coordinated by the Public Prosecutor's Office of Naples with the collaboration of other bodies, including the ABAP Superintendency of Naples and the School of Specialization of Architectural and Landscape Heritage of the Federico II University of Naples.
Another sector on which the department has paid particular attention is that of the receiving of stolen goods of books and archives, also marketed through dark web and deep web telematic channels. In this context, the
constant telematic monitoring action, as well as of physical stores, has led to the seizure of 1.139 state-owned book and archive assets (against 409 in 2022), including rare and valuable books
as incunabula, sixteenth-century and seventeenth-century books, attributable to archives, libraries and public bodies, and as such belonging to the community: among the book assets returned to the State, the 300 ancient books belonging to the
Bourbon Fund of the State Archives of Naples intercepted and seized before being sold via the Internet to Italian and foreign dealers and collectors.
From the comparative analysis of the data compared to the year 2022, the TPC Nucleus of Naples also notes a decrease in thefts (from 27 to 24) and stolen objects (from 298 to 182) and an increase in recovered cultural assets (from 2.544 to 3.397). Data that are corroborated by the intensification of controls in archaeological areas (from 50 to 54) and by the increase in referrals in a state of freedom which go from 60 in the year 2022 to 127 people reported to the judicial authority in 2023 for crimes against cultural heritage.
The TPC Nucleus of Naples, in collaboration with the ABAP Superintendency for the Metropolitan Area of Naples, in the year of reference also undertook inspection actions against private owners of cultural assets already declared of cultural interest. In this context, a work of art, lawfully held by a private citizen resident in the province of Naples, attributed in the past to Sandro Botticelli, was subjected to inspection. Following the investigations, the precious work (tempera on panel, 80X58 cm, depicting the “Madonna delle Grazie”) was removed from the private location for reasons of conservation and safety and sent for restoration by the Opificio delle Pietre Dure of Florence, the highest national body, within the
Ministry of Culture, responsible for the restoration and conservation of cultural heritage, which will be called upon to pronounce on the definitive attribution of the painting.
Monitoring and recovery actions also involved another project, coordinated by the Public Prosecutor's Office of Naples and which saw the collaboration of the peripheral bodies of the Ministry of Culture, the Federico II University of Naples, the territorial departments of the Carabinieri and other TPC Nuclei present on the national territory, relating to the verification of cultural assets lying in the Museum's deposits.
National Archaeological Museum of Naples, mostly attributable to judicial police activities and undecided legal proceedings.
The historical reconstruction of the related files (around 250) has allowed us to define the legal status of the assets, definitively returning them to the community through an exhibition entitled “The Treasure of Legality – Light from the MANN Deposits” in which the initiative was launched at a national level, as a pilot project for the valorization of cultural assets, the result of judicial police activities, present in the State museum deposits.
Finally, within the scope of the activities of education on the culture of legality, the TPC Nucleus of Naples has promoted a project, welcomed by the Ministry of Culture, which will see the establishment of a “Campano Museum of Salvaged Art”.
The Museum, which will be located in Castel Sant'Elmo near the TPC Nucleus, was conceived not only as a container for the works recovered by the Carabinieri dell'Arte, but also as a true educational-museum hub, providing two exhibition rooms and a conference room suitable for hosting educational and laboratory initiatives on the subject of cultural heritage protection.
Article published on 16 July 2024 - 13:40
