Every nation has sovereign power when it comes to cultural assets on its own territory, whatever their origins and ownership might be. It is therefore best to know that in Italy the exportation or importation of works of art and antiques are subjected to complex legislation that is regulated by the Cultural Assets Code, (Lgs. Decree n. 42 dated 22 January 2004). This law serves to preserve the historical and artistic patrimony of Italy by defining cultural assets and subjecting them to safeguards.

Art. 72 regulates the hypothesis of cultural assets entering Italian territory. Cultural assets are defined by the Italian government as: “the mobile and fixed assets that present artistic, historic, archaeological, ethno-anthropological, archival and bibliographic interest and other things identified by the law as testimony of the value of civilisation”. In this case the exportation office certifies the origins of the asset following the presentation of suitable documentation issued by the country of issuance.

The documents is valid for five years and can be extended.

The fulfilment of these procedures is necessary for both private subjects who intend to bring objects they own that were kept or acquired abroad, whether for business or to to participate in shoes, exhibitions, fairs, or events.

To present this request, in both cases, it is necessary to accredited with the Superintendency exports office.