L’AQUILA – The Carabinieri of the Cultural Heritage Protection Unit have served a 29-year-old man from L’Aquila with the notice of conclusion of the preliminary investigations issued by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the L’Aquila Court.
The man is under investigation for having damaged one of the prongs of the trident of the statue of Neptune belonging to the fountain in Piazza Regina Margherita in L’Aquila.
The investigations, coordinated by the L’Aquila Public Prosecutor’s Office, began following a report published on social media by a virtuous citizen who had noticed the damage to the trident. The news then circulated in online newspapers and in some newspapers in the capital, followed immediately by the complaint by the Municipality, the body that owns the property. The video surveillance cameras placed in the square and some testimonies collected were decisive for the outcome of the activity, which made it possible to identify the 29-year-old who, during the night of 7 October last, had climbed up onto the statue thus bending one of the prongs of the trident.
The man will have to answer for the crime of damaging a cultural asset, the Neptune fountain, dating back to 1880 which had recently undergone restoration work. The statue of Neptune was made of terracotta, entirely painted in fake bronze, while the trident is made up of an iron core covered in mortar. The Superintendency of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for the provinces of L’Aquila and Teramo will be responsible for establishing the extent of the damage suffered by the trident.
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