Italy and the U.S. signed a memorandum to improve recovery operations for American military personnel who went missing in action in World War Two and were never accounted for.The conflict saw intense fighting across the Italian peninsula from 1943 to 1945, following the Allied invasion of Sicily and the subsequent campaign to liberate Italy from Fascist and Nazi forces.

Under the deal signed by Italy's culture ministry and the U.S. defence agency for the research of missing military personnel, recovery operations would be improved by steps to ensure the protection of archaeological sites involved in some of the search efforts.