In 2023, the Carabinieri of the Cultural Heritage Protection Unit (TPC) of Bologna recovered 10,798 works of art with a total estimated value of €11,591,950. The operations carried out in the Emilia Romagna region to combat illicit trafficking of cultural goods and the preventive checks carried out to protect cultural heritage in general represented the key principles of the activities of the aforementioned specialized department.
Between May and July 2023, on the occasion of the flood in Emilia Romagna which particularly affected the provinces of Forlì-Cesena and Ravenna, from the first hours following the meteorological events, the Bologna TPC Unit and the Blue Helmet Task Force of Culture supported the peripheral units of the Ministry of Culture for the operations to secure the cultural heritage affected by the serious event. After detailed monitoring of the damage, with particular attention to specific locations and neighborhoods of Forlì, Cesena, Lugo, Castel Bolognese, Sant’Agata sul Santerno, Brisighella, Cervia and Conselice, to name just a few, the interventions were carried out, which particularly affected archival and book assets, attacked by water and mud, which invaded the places where they were preserved.
In relation to the severity of the damage, the decreased safety of the places affected by the event in relation to their location in the territory, fixed and dynamic surveillance services have been activated mainly conducted by the territorial army and the other FF.PP. present in the affected locations. The osmosis between the territorial component of the force and the Carabinieri TPC unit of Bologna has thus ensured the necessary security framework for the cultural heritage. Particular attention was paid to churches, libraries and archives, especially the most isolated ones, for which dynamic surveillance was organised, especially at night, by the competent Carabinieri Companies and Stations before all the places involved were emptied of the goods to be recovered.
Among the many damaged sites are the Library of the Episcopal Seminary of Forlì, the Archives and deposits of the Municipality of Forlì as well as the Historical Archives and Municipal Library of Castel Bolognese. In particular, the Library of the Diocesan Seminary, in Forlì, presented volumes of great value, such as incunabula, books printed in the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries which, completely immersed in mud, had been exposed to the risk of damage due to the proliferation of fungi and bacteria .
The TPC Command, with the immediate dispatch of specialized military “Blue Helmets of Culture” to Cesena and Forlì, has made available the knowledge of consolidated operational procedures and the experience acquired in previous disasters in order to operate in full synergy together with the carabinieri of the TPC Unit of Bologna and alongside officials and restorers of the Ministry of Culture, operators of the Civil Protection and Fire Brigade, as well as the numerous volunteers who attended.
In conclusion, the TPC Unit of Bologna, fulfilling all the requests for support, human and logistical, received from the UCCR (Regional Coordination Crisis Unit) of the Ministry of Culture for Emilia Romagna (established at the Regional Secretariat of the MiC for Emilia Romagna), performed 322 services, over 130 escorts and transport of movable goods to temporary storage places, employing a total of 626 units who intervened on over 180 churches and religious institutes, on a hundred buildings of historical interest -artistic and archaeological areas and on approximately 40 damaged archives and libraries, allowing the recovery of 48,646 ancient books, 6,305 linear meters of archival documentation, 75 paintings and drawings, 22 statues and busts, 265 sculptures of various materials, 147 ancient and related weapons ammunition, 1,114 war relics and various archaeological and anthropological finds.
