MU announced Monday a new collaboration with the Italian government to research ancient Roman artifacts.

MU researchers will collaborate with Capitoline Museum in Rome, the oldest public museum in the world, starting this fall through December 2017.

Enel Green Power, an Italy-based renewable energy company with over 90 projects in the U.S. and Canada, will fund the research collaboration.

“This is an exciting moment for us to be able to touch and have access to very specific historical artifacts provided by the world’s oldest museum,” Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin said. “To give us here at (MU) the opportunity to study the artifacts and collaborate with our partners in Italy … the result of this will be profound.”

The artifacts date back almost 2,000 years and are now being used for academic research which will enhance the knowledge of that time period.

Renato Miracco, the cultural attaché for the Italian Embassy, said the collaboration will open up new opportunities to research artifacts that were previously not researched.

“It’s a really big honor to be here, and I am especially thankful for the museum,” he said. “They are opening a new way to teach, a new way to present these artifacts that were just lying in storage, and now they can be studied. (MU) can now open a new path … it’s the future of culture.”

Amee Desjourdy, a vice president for Enel Green Power, said the company is investing in this research to bridge cultural gaps between Italy and the U.S.

“This all started for us in 2013 when we worked with the Capitoline Museums,” she said. “We hope to continue to bring artifacts into the U.S. (because) it’s such a rare opportunity. We spent a lot of time in North America trying to bridge cultural gaps, (and) this is a real opportunity for us to try and make an impact on local communities where we are doing our work.”