Masaryk University Faculty of Economics and Administration Study program: Public Economy and Administration THE ILLICIT MARKET OF CULTURAL GOODS: A HERITAGE IN PERPETUAL DANGER Master’s Thesis Thesis supervisor: Author: Doc. Ing. František Svoboda, Ph.D. Marta La Falce Prof. Roberto Zanola Brno, 2019 UNIVERSITÀ DEL PIEMONTE ORIENTALE DIPARTIMENTO DI GIURISPRUDENZA E SCIENZE POLITICHE, ECONOMICHE E SOCIALI CORSO DI LAUREA MAGISTRALE IN ECONOMIA, MANAGEMENT E ISTITUZIONI TESI DI LAUREA THE ILLICIT MARKET OF CULTURAL GOODS: A HERITAGE IN PERPETUAL DANGER Relatore: Chiar.mo Prof. Roberto Zanola Correlatore: Doc. Ing. František Svoboda, Ph.D. Candidato: Marta La Falce ANNO ACCADEMICO 2017/2018 Name and surname of the author: Marta La Falce Master’s thesis title: The Illicit Market of Cultural Goods: A Heritage in Perpetual Danger Department: Economics and administration Master’s thesis supervisor: Doc. Ing. František Svoboda, Ph.D. Master’s thesis date: 2019 Annotation Today, the phenomenon of illicit trafficking of works of art has become a problem felt by many nations that through the use of regulatory frameworks try to control this situation. The thesis will attempt to assess the weight that these illegal activities have both from a cultural point of view and from an economic one, trying to understand how the art market is influenced by the various actors and intermediaries connected to it. Speaking about the devastation of cultural heritage, it is clear that the abuses made against works of art in most of the cases have a lucrative purpose or are related to criminal actions disconnected from the cultural context. The thesis wants to underline how the activity of protection, prevention and conservation carried out by the various police forces is an admirable example of how the different countries respond and try to counter this phenomenon. Through history and cultural significance, the European Union seeks to establish a dialogue between different cultures and in recent years with globalization has tried to further intensify exchanges through cultural projects with non-EU countries. The purpose of the thesis, in addition to underlining the great dedication that is used to protect this enormous legacy of the past, also wants to highlight how culture is a powerful means to erase diversity and reduce distances between peoples. The aim is to place particular emphasis on the work of the Carabinieri Command - Protection of Cultural Heritage and on how the Ministry of Cultural Heritage in Italy considers extremely important to protect the cultural heritage not only at national level but also engaging in various missions abroad, especially in areas devastated by armed conflict. In conclusion, taking into account the fact that many stolen works of art are sold to those countries that do not have an enormous cultural heritage from the past, especially because their history was formed in more recent times, I believe and hope for a valid solution the exchange, lending and construction of multi-historical museum areas in all parts of the world. Keywords Cultural heritage, C.C. T.P.C., conservation, art market, counterfeit, protection, preservation, contrast, theft and smuggling. Declaration „I certify that I have written the Master’s Thesis “The Illicit Market of Cultural Goods: A Heritage in Perpetual Danger” by myself under the supervision of František Svoboda and I have listed all the literary and other specialist sources in accordance with legal regulations, Masaryk University internal regulations, and the internal procedural deeds of Masaryk University and the Faculty of Economics and Administration.“ Brno, Author’s signature TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 8 CHAPTER 1: CULTURAL HERITAGE AND PROTECTION ............................ 10 1.1 DEFINITION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE ......................................................... 10 1.2 THE PROTECTION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE IN EUROPE ......................... 12 1.2.1 The protection of cultural heritage in Italy .......................................................... 14 1.3 GLOBALIZATION ................................................................................................. 16 1.4 INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS .................................................................... 18 1.4.1 European Community Treaty and Maastricht Treaty ........................................... 18 1.4.2 The UNESCO Convention .................................................................................... 19 1.4.3 The UNIDROIT Convention ................................................................................. 21 1.5 TERRORISM AND CULTURE ............................................................................. 23 CHAPTER 2: CULTURAL HERITAGE AND MARKET ..................................... 26 2.1 THE VALORIZATION OF CULTURAL ASSETS ............................................... 26 2.2 ART AND THE MARKET ..................................................................................... 29 2.3 THEFT AND SMUGGLING .................................................................................. 37 2.3.1 The Italian situation .............................................................................................. 42 2.4 THE INFLUENCE OF FAKES IN THE ART MARKET ...................................... 48 CHAPTER 3: LAW ENFORCEMENT AND PROTECTION ............................... 53 3.1 INTERPOL .............................................................................................................. 53 3.1.1 INTERPOL, the CRIGEN/ART form and the Database ....................................... 54 3.2 THE CARABINIERI COMMAND – CULTURAL HERITAGE PROTECTION 57 3.2.1 The structure and functions of the Carabinieri Command - Cultural Heritage Protection ....................................................................................................................... 60 3.3 CONTROL, CONTRAST AND PREVENTION TOOLS ...................................... 65 3.3.1 The object ID ........................................................................................................ 68 3.4 OPERATIONAL ACTIVITY OF THE CARABINIERI COMMAND – PROTECTION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE ....................................................................................... 69 3.5 SOME EXAMPLES OF CULTURAL HERITAGE RECOVERY OPERATIONS 73 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................ 83 LIST OF LITERATURE ............................................................................................ 85 LIST OF GRAPHS ...................................................................................................... 95 LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................... 96 LIST OF IMAGES ....................................................................................................... 97 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ..................................................................................... 99 LIST OF APPENDICES ............................................................................................. 101 INTRODUCTION Cultural heritage has always been the focus of enormous attention covering different types of interest, on the one hand it has been exploited, destroyed, falsified, sold and on the other hand protected, preserved, safeguarded and bought. In the thesis it was tried to analyze and consider the aspects that the artistic and cultural heritage cover trying to understand and answer questions about their value and why it is so important to preserve and defend them. It has been tried to evaluate, inserting in different contexts, the function that art objects assume today and to examine the art market and its anomalies, all phenomena that determine high transaction costs and situations of little transparency and how to eliminate these asymmetries it is appropriate to create suitable means that allow those who operate on the art market to understand the characteristics and value of the works of art. It has been mentioned that the art market today has a global dimension and therefore there is a need for regulation between the different legal, economic and fiscal aspects that affect all the various market operators, but not only that, also from a cultural point of view, it is desirable that the various policies agree in establishing the rules to be adopted. By studying the characteristics of works of art as exchange goods, the aim was to compare their two intrinsic properties, on the one hand they are a unique and durable good and on the other a form of investment subject to exchange not only in a legitimate market but also in an illicit market. Artistic crimes in the Twenty-first century take on different forms and on the black-market crimes such as the theft of works of art follow their own rules, they are related to the material well-being of those, not only people but also institutions or museums, who seek to increase their social status or their importance through art objects. It has been highlighted the fate that treating art as any good has led to the misuse of works that have sometimes become a bargaining chip in unclear business, it has also been considered the phenomenon of fakes that are also increasingly difficult to distinguish from the originals and arrive on the market because intermediaries do not carry out the necessary checks