Where passion drives the market; in defiance of the country's flagging economy, the Italian art market has grown vigorously in the past decade. A new generation of collectors is discovering the country's contemporary artists and is moving into under-explored areas, such as nineteenth-century Italian painting

Apollo, July, 2005 by Carla Passino

Dealers and auction houses complain that this puts them at disadvantage in an international market where art laws are more relaxed. 'The Italian art market suffers from this [juridical] separation from the rest of Europe. Protecting our cultural heritage is right but foreign buyers often do not understand the reason for the wait', says auctioneer Sonia Farsetti.

She adds that even more damaging is the fact that the criteria for notification are at best murky. Last year's reform allows owners to appeal to the Ministry of Culture against a notification, but the process is complex, lengthy and costly. Farsetti advocates simpler, clearer rules. 'If works of art could leave more easily, they would come in more easily.'