Afghan art restorers are learning skills in Italy, hoping to be able to repair some of their country 's cultural heritage damaged by years of civil war, Italian news agency ANSA reported.

"The aspiring restorers will be mainly taught how to clean and re-attach fragments of wall paintings and frescos, as well as how to consolidate the backing for mural works," the Italian Cultural Heritage Ministry said in a press release.

The young men and women will work at Rome's famed Art Restoration Institute, which has produced some of the most skilled restorers in the world.

They will also polish their practical skills at the ancient Greek sites of Heraclea and Siris, near the city of Policoro in the southern Italian region of Basilicata.

Many art works were badly damaged in the civil wars that raged through Afghanistan in the 1980s and 1990s.

The Italian-trained restorers will get down to work as soon as they complete their course in November, organizers said.