The Italian Republic protects the national cultural heritage, recognizing it as an essential part of the identity of citizens and a fundamental aid to memory. For these reasons, it guarantees its accessibility to the public.
The reference regulatory code is the decree d.lgs. n. 42 – 2004, known as the Code of the Cultural and Landscape Heritage (IT: Codice dei Beni Culturali e del Paesaggio). This set of articles recognizes as Cultural Heritage movable and immovable things, both of public and private property, which present artistic, historical, archaeological or ethno-anthropological interest.
Typical examples are museum collections, art galleries, book collections, frescoes, works of painting and sculpture, authorial photographs and also villas, parks and gardens of artistic or historical interest;
When the interest concerns assets of a public nature, it is not necessary to have a declaration for such assets to be protected by the law. However, a verification of the aforementioned interest may be necessary. The verification procedure – when it results in the confirmation of the interest – aims to once again ensure the subjection of the asset to the protection regime. If the verification denies the interest, the asset is freed from the application of the constraints established by the code.
For assets in private hands, a particularly important artistic, historical, archaeological or ethno-anthropological interest is necessary to subject the asset to protection measures.When the interest – in reference to private assets – is presumed, there must be an assessment and subsequently the issuing of a declaration.
Private owners, possessors or holders of assets affected by this declaration are required to guarantee their conservation, as well as they are submitted to the prohibition on destroying, deteriorating, damaging or using such assets for uses that are not compatible with their historical or artistic character.
If the declaration of cultural and artistic interest concerns real estate property, the communication is also sent to the municipality. The declaration that ascertains the interest is transcribed in the public registers and it is therefore quite immediate to verify its existence with ordinary diligence.
In the case of a sale, if the real estate property of interest is subject to the constraints established by d.lgs. no. 42 – 2004, it is important to be aware that any building interventions must be subject to the issuing of the appropriate authorizations also by the superintendencies, who have the task of ascertaining that the changes to be implemented do not prejudice the conservative state of the property (or its cultural and artistic value).
Another important aspect concerns the right of pre-emption of the State. It is in fact necessary to wait for confirmation that the State does not want to exercise the pre-emption to be able to definitively transfer the property to the buyer (so-called condition precedent).
In this delicate process it is crucial to be able to count on a team of real estate agents with consolidated experience. Contact one of our experts if you wish to obtain more information regarding this type of real estate transactions.
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