Italian Carabinieri Are Training Professionals Across Africa to Stop Antiquities Trafficking

Earlier this month, Italy‘s National School of Heritage and Cultural Activities (SNPAC) and the École du Patrimoine Africain (EPA) in Porto-Novo, Benin, launched a training course on combatting the illegal trafficking of antiquities. Launched on October 5, the course is the first of its kind, the result of a three-year agreement between the SNPAC and the EPA for training and research in the management of cultural heritage and museums.

Professionals from Algeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Morocco, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Senegal, and Tunisia are participating. The course will include training by Italy’s Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, informally known as the Carabinieri Art Squad, which claims to have recovered over 3 million cultural items and seized over 1 million forged artworks since its inception in 1969. (It is rivaled only, of late, by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit, with whom the Art Squad collaborates with often.)

Among the topics covered in the course are tools and methodologies for collection documentation, provenance research, digitization, international cooperation, and how to trace cultural heritage objects.

The course is the result of Italy’s Mattei Plan for Africa, an initiative introduced by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in 2024 for cooperation and sustainable development with African nations.

“The fight against the illicit trafficking of cultural property is a shared responsibility, which requires specialist expertise and collaboration between institutions. With this agreement, the National School of Heritage and Cultural Activities consolidates its role in training and international cooperation, bringing together Italian and African professionals,” culture minister Alessandro Guili said in a statement, according to Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore.

“As part of the Mattei Plan, we are promoting a partnership based on reciprocity, the exchange of knowledge and respect for cultural identities. Protecting the artifacts of history means safeguarding communities’ memories and their right to pass them on to future generations. The contribution of the Carabinieri TPC brings Italy’s expertise in preventing and combating illicit trafficking to this endeavor.”

EPA director Franck Ogou called the course “proof that Italia and the École du Patrimoine Africain are rekindling their long-standing friendship, which has been consolidated since the very beginning of the EPA’s venture in Africa. Italia is thus demonstrating its commitment to collaborating with Africa, and the École du Patrimoine Africain serves as the conduit for this. All that remains is for us to look forward to a long and fruitful collaboration.”