Last year (2024) the Carabinieri of the Carabinieri Unit for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Bari recovered and returned to the national heritage a total of 8076 cultural assets at risk of definitive dispersion on the international territory as part of the various investigations conducted in the regions of Puglia and Basilicata. According to what we learn, the operational activity highlights, in the year before 2024, a gradual decrease in crimes that attack cultural heritage, “also in light of legislative innovations (Law 9 March 2022 ed.) – explains the Force – which have tightened the sanctioning system, making the repressive activity more effective”.
In fact, during 2023, 25 precautionary measures were carried out and a total of 100 people were referred to the Judicial Authority for crimes of receiving stolen goods, illicit export of cultural goods, violations of archaeological research, counterfeiting of works of art, violations to the detriment of the landscape and other types of crimes envisaged by the Criminal Code and the Cultural Heritage and Landscape Code. 60 house and local searches were carried out which allowed the recovery of 18 antiquarian, archival and book cultural assets, 6495 archaeological finds, 941 paleontological finds and 506 fake works of art, for an economic value estimated at approximately 4 million euros, if placed on the market.
Particular impetus was given to the international traffic of archaeological finds and the surveillance of the archaeological areas scattered across the territory of the two regions. Furthermore, most of the national archaeological finds (often of inestimable historical-cultural value) come from Puglia and Basilicata and are often illicitly transferred and sold abroad, particularly in northern Europe. In 2023, measures were adopted aimed at identifying both those directly responsible for the clandestine excavations and the users of the archaeological assets extirpated from the territory. The investigations into the phenomenon have allowed the referral of 21 people to the Judicial Authority for the specific crime of clandestine excavation but also, through the careful monitoring of the e-commerce platforms, which have now become preferential channels for the buying and selling of art objects, the recovery of 142 archaeological finds dating back to the 3rd and 5th centuries BC.
In the field of landscape protection, investigations have been increased against the construction of illegal construction works or those carried out in non-compliance with the approved projects in historic centers or in any case in areas subject to restrictions. In this context, 30 people were reported. In terms of preventive and control activities, 40 checks were carried out at shops, markets and antiques fairs; 25 anti-crime security checks of museums, libraries and archives with the aim of identifying the critical points of the defense systems; 120 checks in the archaeological areas considered potentially most exposed to criminal attacks, carried out jointly with the staff of the Superintendencies, the 6th Helicopter Unit of Bari and the Territorial Army; 75 checks on areas protected by landscape restrictions; 150 checks of cultural assets in the database of illicitly stolen cultural assets. Among the most significant investigative activities of the year, the operation called “Canusium” is certainly worth highlighting due to its importance and impact on the criminal dynamics that attack the national cultural/archaeological heritage.
In May 2023, the Carabinieri of the Unit carried out, in various regions of Italy, with the collaboration of the ROS of Rome, the Territorial Army and the ‘Cacciatori Puglia’, a precautionary order, issued by the investigating judge of the Court of Trani upon request by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, against 21 people, all in various capacities held responsible for criminal association aimed at clandestine excavation, theft, receiving stolen goods and illicit export of archaeological and numismatic finds. At the same time, dozens of searches were carried out ordered by the Tranese judicial investigating office. The investigation was launched in 2022 following the identification, thanks to aerial surveillance, of several clandestine excavations in progress in the Canosa countryside. Then the investigation was developed and expanded also on an international level, and also with interceptions and telematic activities, led to the discovery of the criminal organization with typical characteristics of the international trafficking of archaeological finds: grave robbers, local fences (1st level) and areal (2nd level), international traffickers. The association, with operational bases in the province of Barletta-Andria-Trani but with branches in Basilicata, Campania, Lazio and Abruzzo and the rest of Puglia, had started a flourishing commercial channel of archaeological coins which, as a result of clandestine excavations carried out in Puglia and Campania, were then sold by the various fences to various international traffickers, who placed them on the global illicit market, through foreign auction houses (English and German).
During the investigations, several thousand archaeological finds were recovered and seized, including ceramics and archaeological coins in gold, silver and bronze, 60 metal detectors and tools suitable for clandestine excavation, as well as accounting documentation attesting to illicit transactions in Italy and with ‘abroad.
In the context of landscape protection, a verification activity was also coordinated by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Foggia on the uses of protected public areas and on construction activities concerning properties (areas and buildings) of historical-architectural interest on Isola San Nicola delle Tremiti , carrying out a control action, started already in the first months of 2022, with the aim of verifying the compatibility of the forms of use and interventions concerning cultural and landscape assets with their cultural destination, safeguarding the historical and environmental values expressed by the Island, which represents the ancient nucleus of the archipelago. The inspections, carried out together with officials of the Superintendency of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for the provinces of Bat and Foggia, with the acquisition of documentation in the technical offices of the Municipality of Tremiti Islands and cadastral checks in the offices of the Provincial Directorate of Foggia of the Revenue Agency, have highlighted a series of failures to comply with the measures for the protection and conservation of cultural heritage, as well as the management of real estate subject to landscape protection, as well as irregularities in the methods of granting the use of state-owned areas protected by law.
The investigations have made it possible, to date, to identify and report 18 people to the Judicial Authority, including managers of commercial activities located in areas of landscape-environmental value, private owners of properties subject to monumental and architectural restrictions and technicians in charge of drafting of the projects and the management of the works, held responsible, in various capacities, for having violated the rules for the protection of cultural heritage and protected natural areas, for the occupation of maritime state-owned areas in the absence of legitimation titles and for the execution of construction works in the absence of authorizations and/or obligatory and binding opinions from the competent Superintendence, modifying the morphological aspects of the coast, compromising the aesthetic and panoramic vision of the places and altering natural beauty. The investigations of the Carabinieri of the Unit continue with the support of the local Carabinieri Station of Isole Tremiti and in synergy with the ministerial bodies responsible for protection, competent for the initiation of procedures aimed at imposing interventions to restore the state of the altered places, in the municipality objective of returning protected places and sites to public enjoyment, ensuring the conservation and integrity of the heritage of cultural interest. In the sector of combating illicit activities concerning the archaeological heritage, the Bari Unit conducted an investigative activity resulting from an administrative check on the archaeological collection called “Martini-Carissimo”, historically linked to the Swabian Castle of Oria (Brindisi), from which Critical issues have emerged regarding the observance of the protection and conservation measures of the important private collection, made up of around 800 finely crafted artefacts, the subject of illicit activities which have also caused some specimens to be damaged. The checks, conducted together with the Superintendency for the provinces of Brindisi and Lecce, made it possible to detect the general conditions of inadequacy of the methods of custody of the archaeological cultural assets – removed from the place of destination in the absence of the necessary authorizations – and to find around 50 pieces (including ceramic and bronze finds), not included in the list of the Collection restriction decree and held in violation of the rules governing the discovery and possession of archaeological assets. Cultural goods of illicit origin were seized and two people were referred to the Prosecutor’s Office for the concurrent crimes of illicit works on cultural goods, damage to archaeological heritage and receiving stolen goods of archaeological goods.
