Grazie a Dio per il Carabinieri!

If you've have ever had the pleasure of traveling to the bella land of Italia, then you most likely have also had the pleasure of running into the Carabinieri.

The organization, a unit of the Italian military, is responsible for policing the civilian population of the Mediterraneo country, and it appears the only requirement for entry is to be a good looking Italian uomo. Besides the fabulous macchine and molto seski uniforms that make the Carabinieri the best, they also have an entire unit dedicated to tracking down stolen art. For art history buffs like us here at Photos with David, this dedication to cultural heritgae is admirable (which is probably why we have a slight obsession with il Carabinieri). We're also thankful the Carabinieri are not stationed inside the Accademia, otherwise our illicit foto snapping would have landed us in a Florentine jail long ago.

Have you seen the raggazze americane pazze who wreck havoc in Firenze?

In fact, the members of the Comando per la Tutela del Patrimonio Culturale (the Art Squad), take their jobs so seriously that even when they are not working, they are working!

While strolling the strade in Nuova York città on vacanza, officer Michele Speranza spotted a torso in the window of an art gallery that he recognized from the Carabinieri's stolen art database. A man after our own hearts, Speranza snapped some pics of the object on his mobile phone, and upon returning to Roma did research to confirm that the female torso was in fact the very same torso stolen from Terracina Archaeological Museum in 1988. Thanks to the great detective work of one dedicated Carabinieri the masterpiece is now safely back in Italy.

BRAVO MICHELE, BRAVO!!!!

Image from Artinfo.com (Courtesy AFP/Getty)

For more information on Speranza's heroics check out the full article here.
You can also check out the official website of the Carabinieri here, including the stolen art database Speranza used, and even download some really sweet Carabinieri desktop wallpapers here!
Allora, for those of you whose Italian language skills are a little rusty (myself included) here is the wikipedia entry for il Carabinieri en Inglese.

To conclude this entry, we'd like to leave you with an image that will serve as a warning to anyone who has plans on stealing art from Italy.

Image from Dailymail.co.uk

What you don't see is how quickly the man in the mask slapped that smile off of his face.
We kid, we kid. But seriously, don't steal art. VA BENE!