The governance of Italian cultural heritage properties: the enhancement process

The Italian Government is changing its management strategy for cultural heritage properties: sale gives way to long term licenses for use. The finance act for the year 2007 allows the State, for the first time, to grant concession of public buildings with cultural value to private entities, for a longer time than average and up to 50 years. This choice aims to gain private investments that will increase the value of the public heritage buildings. Before granting concession of public buildings to private entities, the Public Administration has to be able to foresee the effects of the transformations planned by private concessionaire, and it should guide the private investments to the building safeguard. The present study aims to design a model for the sustainable preservation of the cultural heritage buildings granted in concession, and to guarantee safety, authenticity and compatibility in the choice of new uses suggested by the concessionaires.