ITALY Trends and Developments Contributed by: Guglielmo Maisto, Marco Cerrato, Alessandro Bavila and Stefano Tellarini, Maisto e Associati
Greater Flexibility for the Italian Art Market Italy has long operated one of Europe’s most protec - tive legal frameworks governing the circulation and export of cultural property. Law No 40 of 17 March 2026, amending the Cultural Heritage and Landscape Code, does not depart from this policy stance. Works of genuine cultural significance remain subject to pub - lic oversight, and authorities retain the power to block exports where statutory conditions are met. What the reform does is recalibrate the balance between protection and circulation, ensuring that compliance burdens are more precisely – and proportionately – targeted at works that genuinely warrant scrutiny. This recalibration is particularly relevant for collectors, art dealers, auction houses, museums and private client practitioners. The prior regime was frequently criticised for imposing time-consuming procedures and costs even in cases where the state would not, in practice, exercise any retention rights. The reform aims to increase predictability, reduce friction in lower- risk transactions and introduce clearer criteria, espe - cially in relation to foreign works held in Italy. A first key development concerns artworks entering Italy. The amended provisions expand the availability of documentation certifying lawful importation. Previ - ously, such certification was limited to works meeting specific age and value thresholds. The reform broad - ens access to this mechanism, allowing lawful entry to be documented even for works falling outside those parameters. This is more than a procedural refine - ment: such certification can later serve as valuable evidence of provenance, lawful title and – critically – the fact that the work entered Italy lawfully, thereby facilitating any subsequent export. The most impactful changes, however, relate to the export regime. The starting point remains the same: works falling outside relevant age, authorship and value thresholds may still be exported via a simplified self-declaration process while works within protected categories – typically those by deceased artists, created more than 70 years ago and exceeding specified value thresh - olds – continue to require a certificate of free circula -
tion, involving a substantive review by the competent authority. What changes is the threshold. Law No 40 of 2026 raises the general value threshold triggering the cer - tificate requirement from EUR13,500 to EUR50,000. This significantly expands the range of lower and mid-market works eligible for the simplified export route – particularly relevant for prints, drawings, pho - tographs, decorative arts and works on paper, where values often fell within the previous threshold despite limited cultural interest. Notably, the lower threshold of EUR13,500 is retained for certain categories of docu - mentary heritage, including books, manuscripts and archival materials. Alongside the increase in the value threshold, the reform provides that simplified export declarations for works not requiring a certificate of free circulation remain valid for five years, in line with the certificate regime. This reduces uncertainty where a sale, deliv - ery or other movement of the work takes place over time. A further commercially relevant innovation is the express right of applicants to withdraw export appli - cations at any stage prior to notification of a decision. This reflects market realities, where export requests are often transaction-driven and may become unnec - essary if a sale collapses or commercial strategies change. Importantly, withdrawal does not prevent the authorities from initiating protective proceedings if the work’s cultural significance emerges during the review. One of the most legally significant changes concerns works by foreign artists. Under the new framework, a refusal to grant a certificate of free circulation for such works is only permissible where a specific nexus with Italian cultural history or artistic production can be demonstrated. This marks a clear departure from prior practice, where refusals could be grounded in general considerations of quality, rarity or value. The reform introduces a more rigorous and principled standard, requiring a demonstrable Italian cultural connection. For international collectors and dealers holding works by non-Italian artists in Italy, this is a meaningful devel - opment because it creates a clearer standard against
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