In 2024, the Carabinieri of the Cultural Heritage Protection Command (TPC), an elite Carabinieri force committed to defending Italy's artistic heritage, recovered 80,437 art pieces worth more than 129 million euros. The activity to combat cultural crimes resulted in the confiscation of 2,804 counterfeit works, the entire worth of which, if sold as legitimate, would have exceeded 311 million euros. The seized assets primarily consist of contemporary art (2,763), but also contain archaeological and paleontological objects (23) as well as antiques, books, and archival documents (18). These findings are based on the "Operational Activity 2024" document prepared by the Specialized Unit of the Carabinieri, which was established in 1969 in accordance with Article 9 of the Constitution, which establishes the protection of the nation's landscape as well as its historical and artistic legacy. Today, the TPC Command works closely with the Ministry of Culture via a capillary network that includes sixteen Units and a Regional Section, two Groups (Rome and Monza), a National Operational Department with thematic sections, and a Command Office that manages the world's oldest and largest database of works to be searched, which contains over 1,300,000 files. Over the course of its more than fifty-year history, the TPC Command has restored more than three million cultural items to their lawful owners, both public and private, establishing itself as a global leader in the fight against illicit art trafficking.