The artistic and cultural heritage in the Italian territory: valorization and economic returns

Abstract

The work examines "The artistic and cultural heritage in the Italian territory: valorization and economic returns", bringing in relation the territorial dimension with the relevant economic and institutional aspects. Italy, with 7.8 museums, monumental or archaeological sites every 100 thousand inhabitants, is the European country that has the greatest endowment of artistic and cultural heritage in relation to the population. According to the Cour des Comptes (2011), in 2009 the turnover of only 37 main French national museums was equal to 178 million euros. The main state museum circuits (almost tens of structures, but attracting more than one-fifth of the total visits to state museums) show higher revenue than the average, both for visitors (5.8 euros) and for tickets (8.2 euros). According to a study by the London School of Economics (2006), in 2006, major British museums had revenue from additional services of £107 million. In accordance with this framework, Aspen Institute Italia (2012) notes that in our country the managers of museums usually tend to favor the objectives of accessibility and maintenance and, secondly, to avoid sanctions for various types of failures.

Keywords

Italy; prices and competition; urban economy; governance; Europe; tourism tourism

JEL codes

D40; L11; L13