After the devastating earthquakes that have struck parts of Italy over the past few years, and after the immediate search and rescue for people, another force moves into disaster areas: the Art Squad.
Officially, they are the police Protection for Cultural Heritage unit, charged with recovering, securing and seeing to the restoration of artworks at the damaged sites. The unit includes 2,000 officers from a broad range of professions.
It’s been especially busy in the past year or so, with a number of major earthquakes between last August and January, including the August 23, 2016 quake that destroyed the town of Amatrice.
The series of earthquakes has left the squad with a serious backlog, requiring round-the-clock shifts for the national and regional crisis units. For a full report on their work, with pictures, from TheLocal.it, click HERE
