Private cultural heritage has 34 million visitors

Almost 2 billion in investments to maintain a private cultural heritage, which in 2023 alone welcomed 34 million visitors, with a strongly increasing trend compared to previous years.

These are the main indicators emerging from the Fifth Report of the Observatory of Private Cultural Heritage, presented at the CNEL. Produced by the Fondazione per la Ricerca Economica e Sociale ETS, the Observatory is promoted by the Associazione Dimore Storiche Italiane, Confagricoltura, Confedilizia and Istituto per il Credito Sportivo e Culturale S.p.a, in the hope of providing institutions with a useful tool to support the definition of policies to be adopted to continue supporting private cultural heritage.

The report, a point of reference for the correct definition of the economic, cultural and social role of the system of private properties of historic-artistic interest in Italy, in addition to the usual overview of private historic properties, their nature, location on the Italian territory and activities carried out, this year devotes a special section to investments in the conservation and enhancement of historic homes. From which an important indicator emerges: these investments represent an important driver for economic growth. Between ordinary and extraordinary interventions, it is estimated, in fact, that owners will have spent a total of over 1.9 billion euro by 2023, contributing to over a tenth of the increase in GDP for that year.

These are significant amounts that nevertheless have considerable room for growth if two factors are taken into account. The first is the still unused space in the dwellings: it is estimated that there are more than 20,000 properties with unused space totalling 13.4 million square metres that cannot be used. The second is the more than 10,000 owners who do not currently carry out economic activities in their dwellings, but would be interested in doing so if they had the funds to start them up. Added to the current 19 thousand owners who carry out a structured production activity (with an Ateco code) and/or occasional activity, the threshold of 30 thousand economic operators in the sector could thus be reached.

"The report is an indispensable tool to allow institutions to give the right support to historical residences and consolidate a conscious and virtuous public-private partnership," said Renato Brunetta, president of the Cnel, and Giacomo di Thiene, president of the Associazione Dimore Storiche Italiane (Italian Historical Residences Association) also emphasised that "Moments like this allow us to open a dialogue with institutions and social partners in the spirit of an increasingly fruitful and constant collaboration aimed at protecting private property and its role in the social, cultural and economic fabric of our country.