If you’re a fan of the “Da Vinci Code”, listen up! Many people don’t realize that the field of criminal justice can incorporate many different interests and hobbies—namely, art history.

The first master’s program in international art crime has recently opened in a small town in Umbria, Italy. Classes focus on international organized crime, art history, criminology, museum security, and forgery. The classes complement each other to form a three-month master’s program that is attempting to cater to a growing interest in the field. Thanks to news reports on looted art and art thieves in film (such as “Ocean’s Twelve”, which involves the theft of four important paintings), the profession is gaining an increasing amount of attention. Even police forces are getting involved by creating special art criminal justice squads to prevent art thievery. Even the F.B.I. has an Art Crime Team!

The master’s program is funded by the Association for Research Into Crimes Against Art, which works on art protection and recovery cases. Noah Charney, the director of the program, said that the time was ripe “for academic study to help inform future police enforcement.”

Security is a major theme in the program. He reported to the New York Times that “in one assignment I ask the students how they would steal from Amelia’s archaeological museum, what would they steal and how would they profit from it.”

Charney noted that art crime was the third-highest-grossing illegal worldwide business, following drug and weapon trafficking. Becoming an art criminal justice expert has definitely been a lucrative business for Charney. Not only does he teach at the school, but he is the author of several books on the subject of art theft and has two television programs in the works.

Charney’s program is generating a considerable amount of buzz in the criminal justice field because he puts students into contact with experts, many of whom were former members of the F.B.I., who dealt with art crimes. While colleges and universities around the world offer a smattering of classes on art crime, like how to detect forgeries, Charney maintains that his program is unique because it provides students with an interdisciplinary approach to art criminal justice.

The first class of incoming students is quite a diverse bunch, and includes art historians, lawyers, museum professionals, art conservators, and criminal justice professionals. There is definitely a very broad appeal to the field!