10 THE ITALIAN LAW JOURNAL NOS. 1-2 (2024)
The Regulation of Cultural Meanings Through Sponsorship Contracts
by Manlio Lisanti This paper analyses the potential negative repercussions of sponsorship contracts. It assumes that cultural heritage has both a tangible value, a corpus mechanicum, and an intangible value, pertaining to identity and historical aspects, representing a corpus mysticum. With this combination of identity, historical aspects may make a tangible part of cultural heritage a testimony of civilization. Sponsorship contracts influence the intangible value of the cultural asset. The paper starts by analysing some appropriative dynamics in the field of distinctive signs which have a precise cultural or political meaning, and which, through registration, remain mainly available to private individuals. Similarly, in the event that the sponsor performing the restoration of the property brands the cultural asset, albeit for a limited time, appropriation can use the identity and inner value of the property itself. It then seems crucial to find alternative means by which to reconcile the economic support, which is necessary to protect cultural property, with the material value and intangible meaning of the cultural property. DOI 10.23815/2421-2156.ITALJ ISSN 2421-2156
