According to the Court of Florence (Ord., 11/04/2022), the art. 9 of the Italian Constitution and Legislative Decree 22 January 2004, n. 42 "Cultural and Landscape Heritage Code") testify the existence of a "full and effective right to the image" of cultural assets, because the cultural asset has a "collective value" identified "in its purpose to be enjoyed in a culturally qualified and free of charge way by the entire community, according to methods that can lead to the development of culture and the promotion of knowledge, by the public, of the historical and artistic heritage of the nation". Consequently, the use of the image of Michelangelo's David by a company that pursues undoubted lucrative purposes and would degrade the image of the cultural asset by causing it to expire as a distinctive element of the company's qualities must be considered detrimental to the right to the image of cultural assets which, through its use, promotes its own image, with unquestionably commercial use, which could lead third parties to consider such free use lawful and tolerated
Under the Code of Cultural Heritage and Landscape that has the purpose to protect and enhance the cultural heritage, the protection and enhancement of the cultural heritage shall concur to preserve the memory of the national community and its territory and to promote the development of culture.
The cultural heritage consists of cultural property and landscape assets.
Cultural property consists of immovable and movable things which, pursuant to articles 10 and 11, present artistic, historical, archaeological, ethnoanthropological, archival and bibliographical interest, and of any other thing identified by law or in accordance with the law as testifying to the values of civilisation.
Landscape assets consist of the buildings and areas indicated in the code, which are the expression of historical, cultural, natural, morphological and aesthetic values of the land, and any other assets identified by law or in accordance with the law.
Cultural heritage property belonging to the government shall be designated for public enjoyment, compatibly with the needs of government use and on condition that no protection reasons to the contrary persist
The Ministry, the Regions and other territorial government bodies may permit the reproduction as well as the instrumental and temporary use of the cultural properties committed to their care, without prejudice to the provisions with regard to the italian copyright law.
In addition, concession fees and payments connected to the reproduction of cultural properties are established by the authority.
The fees and payments shall as a rule be paid in advance.
No fee is owed for reproductions requested by private individuals for personal use for purposes of study, or by public bodies for purposes of enhancement.
The applicants shall nevertheless reimburse the administration granting concession for any costs incurred. In any case, the following activities are free, if they are carried out on a non-profit basis, for purposes of study, research, free of expression, thought or creative expression, promotion of the knowledge of cultural heritage: 1) the reproduction of cultural assets other than archival assets subject to restrictions on accessibility, carried out in compliance with the provisions that protect copyright and in ways that do not involve any physical contact with the asset, nor the exposure of the assets to light sources, nor, within cultural institutes, the use of stands or tripods; 2) the dissemination by any means of the images of cultural heritage, legitimately acquired, so that they cannot be further reproduced for profit.
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