ABSTRACT
In 2013, CHIEF ETS, a voluntary civil protection association, was established to safeguard cultural heritage in a crisis situation. Professional restorers and qualified restoration technicians form its member network. In 2015, it became the first Italian association to be included by the International Blue Shield in the list of six organisations in the world that, alongside its national committees, are recognised for the protection of cultural heritage in an emergency situation. In 2016, following the seismic sequences that affected Norcia, the church of San Salvatore, built in Campi, completely collapsed. The Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism and the Coordination of the UCC of Umbria applied for assistance under the CHIEF ETS in July and August 2017. The purpose of the activation was to provide professional volunteers qualified to proceed with the rescue, cataloguing, stabilising, and handling operation of the frescoes and stone elements fragments from the Basilica of San Benedetto in Norcia and the Church of San Salvatore in Campi. Eight trained teams intensively co-worked for eight weeks to enable the recovery, stabilisation, cataloguing and managing 65% of the total area of the collapsed church.
