Law and Cultural Heritage Across the Atlantic

Law and Cultural Heritage across the Atlantic is an academic network that aims to challenge preconceptions and biases concerning the Italian and U.S. art and cultural heritage legal systems on opposite sides of the Atlantic. The network deeply analyzes and compares the main legal and managerial challenges that characterise the protection and acknowledgement of contemporary art and cultural heritage in Italy and in the United States.

« ‘American relations with Italy today rest on a paradox… concealing a profound misunderstanding. For Americans, Italy is a land that seems greatly familiar: actually, it is little known’. There has been a notable lack of interest in Italian law among American teachers and scholars »

H.S. HUGHES, THE UNITED STATES AND ITALY (1953) IN J. H. MERRYMAN, THE ITALIAN STYLE I: DOCTRINE (1965)

« I presupposti ed i fini della tutela giuridica, nel nostro campo, hanno quindi, carattere spiccatamente locale, e non coinvolgono beni della civiltà di altri paesi, di cui del resto gli Stati Uniti non sono molto provvisti. Si spiega così, data questa relativa deficienza, perché sia facilitato l’afflusso di cose d’arte, concedendo per esse larga libertà nel territorio federale: il liberismo, in questo caso, appare un riflesso della relativa scarsezza degli Stati Uniti in fatto di cose d’arte antica, in confronto alla sua ricchezza in altri settori»

—M. GRISOLIA, LA TUTELA DELLE COSE D’ARTE (1952)

Annual Summer School in Lucca (Italy)

• The Summer School is annually organized in June, hosted by IMT School for Advanced Studies, Lucca. It seeks an interdisciplinary cohort of MA Graduates, U.S. JD students and recent law graduates, junior researchers (PhD Students, Post-doctoral Fellows) and heritage professionals interested in learning the nuances of U.S. and Italian cultural heritage regulatory frameworks.
• We welcome applications from students and recent graduates with a demonstrated interest in cultural heritage; cultural heritage professionals with an interest in promoting exhibitions, loans, and other initiatives between the U.S. and Italy; and curators, museum directors, archivists, archaeologists, and business professionals interested in learning more about legal, regulatory, and managerial aspects in Italy and in the U.S.

In-depth workshops and webinars

• We regularly organize in-person workshops and online webinars to deepen and discuss major art and cultural heritage law topics among Italian and American scholars and professionals.

International Research Network

• Based on the initiative of Dr. Felicia Caponigri and Dr. Anna Pirri Valentini, the network Law and Cultural Heritage across the Atlantic gathers junior and senior scholars working on comparative art and cultural heritage topics to discuss their research and work.