Decrease in art thefts, but increase in churches and museums affected

94,168 goods recovered (including paintings stolen from the Castelvecchio Museum in Verona): this is the result of the 2016 operational activity of the Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage (TPC), presented in recent hours to the press by Brigadier General Fabrizio Parruli. At the same time, a number of statistics were also released: in particular, art thefts (449 in 2016 compared to 450 in 2015, 609 in 2014, 676 in 2013, 891 in 2012, and 906 in 2011) and clandestine excavations (14 in 2016, 21 in 2015) are down. However, there is an increase in thefts from churches: 215 in 2016, up from 176 in 2015. Churches represent the places most targeted by art thieves. In second place are private places (125 thefts), followed by exhibition venues (70). There were 20 thefts in museums in 2016(up: there were 14 in 2015), 14 in libraries, and 5 in archives.

As for the regions most affected by thefts, on the podium are Tuscany (69 thefts), Campania (52) and Piedmont (51), with the first and third registering strong increases (+30% and +41.7%, respectively) compared to 2015. By contrast, Val d’Aosta (no thefts), Basilicata (2), Molise and Calabria (3) are less affected. The most stolen items are stamps, and a particularly “thriving” sector seems to be counterfeiting: 667 forgeries recognized by the Carabinieri in 2015.

“The situation of crimes against art, in 2016,” says General Parruli, “confirms the positive trend of recent years: albeit slight, in fact, there has been a decrease in the number of thefts concerning cultural property. The fact that the decrease was not matched by a decrease in the number of objects removed, however, is one of the reasons that prompts the Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage (TPC) to keep its guard up and continue to invest all available resources in the prevention and repression of criminal assaults in the specific area of competence.”

The full report on the 2016 activity of the TPC can be downloaded.

Decrease in art thefts, but increase in churches and museums affected

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