European Policies in Cultural Heritage (EPICH)
Cultural heritage is attracting increasing interest both academically and in policy making. Cultural heritage sectors represent a growing part of the economy, generating much income and employment directly and indirectly, notably through cultural tourism. This is particularly true in countries such as Italy. Today, policy makers need to develop new strategies for the protection of cultural heritage, an issue recognised explicitly both in the Italian PNRR which allocates substantial sums to culture, and at the level of the EU. In addition, heritage has important international dimensions. Trade in heritage objects and services is increasingly regulated at the EU and international levels, while issues of restitution and illegal trade in antiquities have become highly prominent in international diplomacy debates concerning museums and the governance of markets in cultural heritage. The restitution of cultural heritage has also become a central object of debate in the context of International Relations, and it is a key case study for scholars and students interested in international diplomacy. Also, the protection of cultural heritage has entered the digital world. The European Commission, in particular the Directorate General for Communications Networks, Content & Technology has conducted extensive policy coordination and funding actions to supplement Member States’ cultural policy and promote the digitisation of museums.
EPICH develops different activities in cultural heritage policy: from the development of training courses for students and professionals, to the organisations of events and the provision of consultancy activities.
The EPICH Lab can act as catalyst for the development of the different research, didactic, and informative activities analysing the political, legislative, and legal dimensions of culture and cultural heritage.
In this regard, a series of events entitled Luiss Cultural Heritage Initiative (LCHI), was initiated in 2021. The LCHI is a new format for in-depth analysis and reflection on the role that culture and cultural heritage can play in this phase of political, economic and social change. By facilitating dialogue between administrators at different territorial levels (local, national, and international), directors of cultural institutes, experts, academics, and representatives of the associative and entrepreneurial world, the aim is to create a network of protagonists of the cultural heritage and creative industries in order to reflect on common strategies that place culture at the centre of social and economic recovery. In this way, EPICH intends to promote this dialogue and act as a facilitator of the analyses that may arise from these meetings, pursuing its mission of research and teaching for the benefit of professionals, researchers, and students.
The inaugural event of the LCHI, held in December 2021, was titled “Developing cultural heritage in the light of the PNRR and next generation EU”; in April 2022 we organised the second event to discuss the issue of “Attracting visitors to Cultural Heritage sites, both physical and digital”. In October 2022 the third event of the LCHI was devoted to “Cultural Heritage and Local Development”.
Other type of activities, able to bring together practitioners, academics, and policymakers around the multidisciplinary nature of cultural heritage will be organised and promoted trough the Research Laboratory.
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Anna Pirri Valentini
Head of Unit
Anna Pirri Valentini is Senior Postdoctoral Researcher at the Department of Political Science of Luiss Guido Carli University in Rome, where she teaches Heritage, Tourism and Sustainable Economic Development Policies. She is also Adjunct Professor of Art Market Legislation at NABA, Milan.
Dr. Pirri Valentini obtained her Ph.D. in Analysis and Management of Cultural Heritage at IMT School for Advanced Studies, Lucca (2020) and graduated in law at Sapienza University, Rome (2015).She has been a Visiting research scholar at the Institut des Sciences Sociales du Politique -École normale supérieure Paris Saclay- (Paris) and at the LSE- London School of Economics and Political Science (London).
Her research focuses on the policies and regulation of cultural heritage and art law. Her first monograph will be published (2023) in the She published in Italian (Rivista Trimestrale di Diritto Pubblico, Giornale di Diritto Amministrativo, AEDON, Diritto dell’Arte) and international (International Journal of Constitutional Law) journals. Dr. Pirri Valentini is member of the International Society of Public Law (ICON·S) and the Istituto di Ricerca sulla Pubblica Amministrazione (IRPA). -
Mark Thatcher
Mark Thatcher is Professor of Politics, Department of Political Science, Luiss University, Rome, and was previously Professor of Comparative and International Politics at the London School of Economics. His research interests lie in comparative public policy and regulation in Europe. He is studying comparative policies towards cultural heritage, at both national and EU levels. Recent publications on cultural heritage policies include: ‘Differentiated implementation and European integration: the development of EU food quality labelling’ (with Monica Garcia Quesada) (2023), West European Politics; ‘State museums raising their own resources: a comparison of the legal and managerial frameworks in Italy, France, and England’ (with Anna Pirri Valentini) (2022), Arte e Diritto 1(1): 53-79; -‘Direct and market governance paths for the creation of an EU political identity: cultural heritage policy’, Comparative European Politics 17(4) (2019): 585-602; ‘The state and historic buildings: preserving “the national past”’, Nations and Nationalism (2018); -‘State production of cultural nationalism: political leaders and preservation policies for historic buildings in France and Italy’, Nations and Nationalism 24 (1), 2018, 64–87.
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Jose Carlos Mariátegui
Writer, curator, scholar and entrepreneur on culture, and technology. Dr. Mariátegui is the founder of Alta Tecnología Andina – ATA, an organization working at the intersection of art, science, technology and society in Latin America. His multidisciplinary research embraces media archaeology, digitization, archives and the impact of technology in memory institutions. He is a Lecturer at LUISS (Rome) and a Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the Department of Media and Communications at the LSE. He is a Board Member of Future Everything (UK) and chairs the Education Committee at the Museo de Arte de Lima – MALI. Has published in journals such as AI & Society, Third Text, The Information Society, Telos and Leonardo and curated art and technology projects internationally for more than two decades.
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Donato Di Carlo
Donato Di Carlo is senior researcher at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, in Cologne, and lecturer at Luiss University. Prior to joining Luiss, he has been Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute, in Fiesole. His research interests revolve around the study of comparative political economy, with a focus on growth models and the role of the state in economic development and industrial policy. His current research project analyses the steady expansion of the international tourism industry in Southern Europe, investigating the determinants and properties of governments’ developmental policies undertaken to foster tourism-led growth.
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Luciano Monti
Adjunct Professor of European Union Policies at Luiss Guido Carli in Rome, where he has been teaching since 1999, and one of the national coordinators of the ASviS SDG 8 Working Group “Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all” of Agenda 2030 for sustainable development. Senior Fellow of Luiss School of Government (IT) and Fellow of the Geneva Graduate Institute (IT). Member of several scientific committees in Italy and abroad. Author of over 120 scientific publications and papers on European Union policies focusing mainly on youth policies and cultural heritage development. He is member of the public policies’ youth impact evaluation committee promoted by the Italian Council of Ministers.
