The protection of cultural heritage in recent decades. Reflections and possible paradigm shift
The essay starts from the observation that in the Seventies and Eighties of the 20th century the idea of
protection, conducted essentially by the State to keep culture protected from speculative market pressures,
vanished. This idea was replaced by a protection which placed enhancement in a privileged position. All
this in a process of commodification of Heritage. The result is a model focused on valorisation for the
present and no longer on conservation for the future.
To get out of this model it is proposed to start from the concept of “need”, usually conceived in an
economic sense, to decline it according to a meaning that comes from Law. This shifting meaning makes
possible to pass from the remunerative purpose to that of “social utility”. In this sense, the term subject
is redefined, the “precautionary principle” deriving from the ethics of responsibility and the expression
“common good” are introduced in the discourse of preservation.
