Riflessioni giuridiche su difesa e valorizzazione del patrimonio culturale al tempo della globalizzazione

The cultural property sector and, more generally, the cultural heritage sector is not exempt from being involved in the pressing and unstoppable phenomenon of globalisation. The substantial breaking down of borders and the constant connection of every part of the world has immersed cultural heritage at the centre of a network of relationships no longer only national or international, but global. This essay aims at analysing the multiple effects of this phenomenon on the category of cultural heritage. Indeed, the understanding of the relationship between globalization and cultural heritage, as well as the resolution of a series of related problems (e.g.: the increase demand for culture, the increase in illicit trafficking cultural goods, the need to prepare a regulation, etc. ..), which have become more urgent with the creation of a “global market”, have made it clear to lawyers and academics, especially those specialised in comparative law, that the discipline of cultural heritage contains an unavoidable tension between the national framework and the international one. The contribution aims also at providing a further reading of the relationship between globalization and cultural heritage, which cannot be overlooked: to understand cultural heritage no longer only as an object but also as a positive protagonist of the globalization process, meaning the globalisation as a dialogue between communities and the breaking down of borders. In this sense, the two UNESCO conventions for the protection of the intangible cultural heritage (2003) and the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (2005) can be framed.