MACRI (Museo dei Crimini Ambientali)

The museum, the only one of its kind in Europe, aims to raise awareness among the general public about the crimes that often disfigure the environmental heritage. It is named after Danilo Mainardi.

It is divided into seven sections (fires, pollution and waste, poaching, illegal logging, CITES, animal abuse and investigative techniques) and allows visitors to learn more about the seriousness of phenomena such as the illegal trade in endangered fauna and flora, activities that are increasingly associated with organised crime, highlighting the tools available to the State to combat such forms of illegality.

THE VISIT ROUTE
The MACRI covers about 400 square metres in which numerous environmental contexts have been recreated to represent criminal phenomena and the damage they do to the environment. The visitor is welcomed by a short film in which the ethologist Danilo Mainardi speaks on the themes of the Museum.
The itinerary is accompanied by several panels in two languages offering a clear explanation of each topic, enriched by data and curiosities.

In the area dedicated to the theme of environmental pollution and fires there are live specimens of avocets (birds with a curious upturned beak), often victims of pollution in wetlands, and marginated tortoises representing all the animals that are victims of forest fires. While in the area dedicated to illegal logging of rainforests there are purple shining starlings, Livingstone's turaco, green-winged turtle doves and roul roul.

In the central part of the structure are the display cases dedicated to CITES (Convention regulating international trade in endangered species of flora and fauna) and containing, among others, stuffed specimens, parts and derivatives, confiscated and kept by the Forestry Service CITES, which are exhibited and shown to the public for the first time.
The exhibits come from the countless forensic operations carried out by the staff of the State Forestry Corps' CITES Service over the last twenty years, both nationally and internationally. It is estimated that over 71,000 finds are currently held by the State Forestry Corps. Near the showcases, with the help of easy-to-read texts and images, the most important criminal phenomena damaging protected species are illustrated, which is the main objective of the law enforcement activities carried out by the CITES Service through its offices located on the territory and at customs (illegal trade in ivory, skins and furs, trophies, traditional medicine, shells, etc.). Other showcases are dedicated to poaching and the crime of animal abuse and contain the most commonly used capture tools in illegal hunting.

Others display the tools available to the wildlife investigator in his or her investigations, ranging from forensic laboratory techniques to the Forestry Service's mobile laboratory, from the Physical Evidence Method for identifying the ignition point of a forest fire to criminal profiling, from identification techniques for protected species to international cooperation (Interpol, Europol, etc.).

There is also an audio-video room where films are shown explaining the various activities carried out by the Forestry Service in defence of ecosystems.

At the end of the tour there is an area dedicated to children, who can have their photograph taken by placing their face in correspondence with a hole, created on a forex template, which portrays, almost life-size, the investigator of nature (i.e. the image of a Forester), with whom they can identify at the end of the tour.

At various points in the museum it is also possible to consult a totem with a touchscreen and a screen, which is also tactile, through which images, films and Powerpoint presentations can be viewed, relating to the various environmental crimes and the themes addressed in the tour.