Conservazione, valorizzazione e riuso dei beni culturali ecclesiastici. La disciplina canonica

It is well-known that a large amount of the Italian cultural heritage is composed by forms of sacred art, mainly pertaining Catholicism: on a juridical level, this means that, when dealing with such goods, it is essential to pay attention not only to the State legislation on cultural heritage, but also to the dispositions of Canon law. Moreover, relevant and detailed recommendations can be found in the documents of the Roman Curia and - for our country - in those of the Italian Bishops Conference, which therefore cannot be ignored. Starting from such a theoretical framework, the paper aims to offer an overall depiction of two concrete major issues: on the one hand, the topic of the funding of religious cultural heritage, namely in light of the recent Provisions concerning the granting of financial contributions from the Italian Bishops Conference for ecclesiastical cultural heritage and places of worship; on the other hand, the matter of the legal discipline of sacred places and especially churches, with particular regard to their potential cultural uses (as for art exhibitions, music concerts and tourist visits).