Dismissed Monasteries: Proposal for a Legal Solution

Abstract

The dismissal of monasteries raises considerable problems from a legal point of view. It is necessary, therefore, to seek the juridical instruments, both of civil law and of administrative law, which, incompliance with the framework provided by canon law, can concretely allow the cultural valorization and reuse of these buildings, succeeding in reconciling the needs of economic feasibility with possible new profane uses, maintaining, where possible, the ownership by the ecclesiastical body. For this reason, in addition to the ordinary instruments of rights in rem (building rights and usufruct) and obligations (lease, rent and loan), it is necessary to better investigate the applicability of other legal instruments, such as the agreements for the valorization of privately owned cultural heritage and the sponsorships referred to, respectively, in articles 113 and 120 of the Italian code of cultural heritage and landscape, as well as the trust, project management and project financing. These instruments could be used, however, under the control of a foundation, around which the various interests represented by the stakeholders could be brought together and reconciled. This is the hope for a “new path of redemption” that could make the former monastery of Vicopelago, the case study examined by the Lucca Summer School, live again towards new social, artistic and cultural uses compatible with its history and the different functions that this asset has been able to assume over the time.