Should Italy allow its historical artworks to be sold abroad?

I’ve come across an interesting article by an academic, Giulio Volpe, who teaches Cultural heritage law at the University of Bologna.

In Italy this is a period of profound economic crisis due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The arts and culture sector has been seriously affected, as museums, art galleries and theatres have had to close their doors for three months. Now that Italy is viewed as Covid-free, with systems of monitoring in place to ensure if stays that way, there are some signs of recovery. According to the statistic institute Demoskopika, hundreds of thousands of people are looking online to book their holidays in Italy, or discussing their plans to holiday in Italy on social media – but it’s hard to replace 30 million tourists.

Professor Giulio Volpe, thinks the Italian State needs to think creatively in order to stimulate a sector that is at the heart of the Italian economy. One idea he has is to modernise the bureaucracy surrounding the export of historical artworks. 

Up to the late 19th century, unscrupulous art dealers ransacked Italy’s artistic patrimony, unhindered by rules on the export of artworks. With the birth of the Italian state at the end of the 19th century, a set of rules were created to protect Italian artworks, but these have remained in place, unchanged, until this day. They require that before export, each and every piece of art must be analysed, evaluated and reviewed by a panel of experts, creating a huge amount of work often for artworks with little importance or value.

Despite these strict regulations, art dealers in Italy have continued to be viewed in a dim light – being seen as akin to pirates or smugglers. Professor Volpe thinks this now needs to change. Antique and art dealers, and the knowledge and experience they bring, should be at the heart of Italy’s arts heritage industry. It is the dealers who create the market and inspire the collectors; they are not the cause of the haemorrhage of artworks – this happens when their work is obstructed – rather they facilitate and promote prestigious and recognised ways of collecting art openly and lawfully. 

If something could be done to simplify the purchase and export of the historical artworks which fill the basements of Italian museums it could provide an important income stream that might allow them to survive the coming months and years. A system similar to those that operate in the UK and France should be put in place to protect those works considered a “National Treasure” – anything else should be up for grabs, free to be bought and sold on the open market. For wherever they end up, they will always be Italian.