Ministry export offices: should they be made "autonomous"?

It has already been amply clarified and repeated how the Renzi-Franceschini reform of 2015 has distorted the technical-scientific imprint of the ministry imagined by Giovanni Spadolini-valued and kept alive in Florence until the presence in service of Antonio Paolucci first and Cristina Acidini later-mutating it into the current “political” ministry.

Similarly, it has already been well remarked how in the context of this new perspective the spotlight has been turned above all on museums, first on the nation’s most important ones and, later, even on the medium-small ones, to the objective detriment of the territorial Superintendencies, an all-Italian specificity - the Prefectures of Protection, as Paolucci liked to call them - penalized in terms of economic and personnel resources.

In this framework, the Export Offices, hinged in the various superintendencies, have also been suffering, both because of staff shortages and the increased workload, and moreover, because of the legitimate expectations of users for simplification and greater timeliness in the processing of paperwork, particularly with regard to the issuance of endorsements of self-certifications for contemporary art and the issuance of Certificates of Free Movement.

I wonder, then, if the Export Offices should not also be made “autonomous,” in the sense of entrusting their leadership to art historian managers, and furthermore to strengthen and speed up their operations with the presence of art historian functionaries who are predominantly active within them, as opposed to what happens today. Now art historians periodically meet at the Offices to examine the works submitted for Export and then “run off” as soon as possible to the various museum and superintendency offices where they are stationed, where many duties of collection care, research and exhibition preparation, and bureaucratic tasks naturally await them. This being the case, a chronic slowness is inevitable not only in the in-depth investigations necessary to make a reasoned judgment regarding some of the works submitted for Export, but also in preparing the technical-scientific reports for possible proposals for compulsory purchase, or for the adoption of the more or less important measures of Declaration of Interest, which used to be called notifications. In this situation, the administrative staff of the export offices must then try to facilitate, not without difficulty and effort, the coordination and conclusive opinion of the commission members, within the deadlines prescribed by the current regulations.

If one really believes in the importance of controlling the legitimate circulation of our artistic heritage, not only for scientific purposes (exhibitions, diagnostic investigations, restorations, and so on), but also from the perspective of actually fostering the development of the art market with the significant economic spin-offs it entails, and also, last but not least, if the expectations of greater efficiency and timeliness are to be fulfilled of the users, I believe that an ad hoc structure should be created for the management of this particular sector, certainly including a central body of direction and control, but above all rethought and strengthened Export Offices distributed throughout the territory.

The latter today are not few on paper, but given the conditions in which they exist from the point of view of available personnel of the various levels, there are actually very few that can operate validly without arriving at stressful working conditions and in any case insufficient to meet expectations. Eight to ten offices evenly distributed throughout the country might suffice, each equipped, however, as mentioned above, with its own art historian manager, with art historians active predominantly within them-so as to be able to ensure also a greater frequency of the presentation of the properties-and with administrative personnel capable of instructing the various files. Personnel, therefore, in more than sufficient numbers and not distributed with the dropper, even taking into account the various local situations. Suffice it to say that according to recent statistical data, the Milan Export Office alone bears 40 percent of the volume of work at the national level! The renewed context outlined here should imply a significant increase in the decision-making autonomy of individual Offices, led for this by a manager and not just an official, which should allow for a streamlining of the bureaucratic process and related waiting times. It is easy to imagine, however, that Rome will still not want to give up final control over the acts of the various offices. In conclusion, in my view the situation in the sector can be significantly improved if a different and better structural and operational organization is put in place.

In fact, I believe that the current legislation is excellent and rightly aimed at the greatest possible protection of our artistic heritage. Italy has always been a supplier of works of art, even in spite of itself: just think of the devastating, shameful Napoleonic raids! And still in our days, not only archaeological goods that are partly the result of clandestine excavations continue to emerge unceasingly, but also paintings, sculptures and art objects of great interest, which in any case only in a small part and in a very judicious way would deserve, in my opinion, protective measures, precisely in light of the extraordinary quantitative and qualitative consistency of our heritage. And it is precisely this extraordinary and inexhaustible wealth of ours that makes it more difficult for us to implement the French or English model referred to by Fabrizio Moretti. Recently the French were able to find the money to retain a very rare piece by Cimabue and the English stopped-very rare case for the most liberal country in the world for art trade-a youthful masterpiece by Beato Angelico... but with us the state could run the risk of putting up far more coercive purchases or crowdfunding for the stopped works every year!

This contribution was originally published in No. 24 of our print magazine Finestre Sull’Arte on paper. Click here to subscribe.

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