Once one of the least favorable destinations for art trade due to high taxes and strict regulations, Italy can reduce its value added tax (VAT) in the ART of 22 punitive percentage to only 5 percent under a new regulation in force this week. Its import tax will also fall from 10 percent to 5 percent, which makes Italy one of the most attractive European countries to buy and sell art, at least from a fiscal perspective.
“The reduction is an important achievement for the art market,” Giuseppe Calabi, a lawyer based in Milan and a member of the Executive Committee of the Association of Interested Parts of Art Italy, Gruppo Apollo, observed. Calabi spent years in dialogue with Italian political leaders and believes that the reform will make the Italian art market more competitive in facilitating international circulation of art inside and outside Italy. “The ultimate goal is to promote the global circulation of Italian art and culture.”
The Italian gallery owner Marco Poggiali of Galleria Poggiali said that the credit is for the Minister of Culture Alessandro Giuli, the National Association of Modern and Contemporary Art Galleries (Angamc) and the Apollo Group, “which have solved a long -standing problem for a difficult time for the market: the highest tax level compared to the rest and the world in the last Recognized of a social moment “, even the social level, the highest social level compared to the rest of the world and the world in the last art, the art of art, even in a social moment, the social level: the social level”, even the social level, even the social level, even the level of art in art, even the level of art, even the social level, the social level, even the social level, the social level, even the level of art, the level of art Reduction marks the beginning of a cultural and market rebirth that will restore Italy to its legitimate place, “that of a leader, as has been the historical leg.”
See also: from the boom and the fall to the revival of the global aboriginal art market in the ascent.
José Graci or Mazzoleni Gallery pointed out that the reform is the result of years of work that involve a wide coalition of interested parties in the art sector. “A special thanks to Sirio Ortolani, president of Angamc, who has been our point of reference on this issue,” he said to observe, adding that the reduction reflects a strong spirit of collaboration. “The sector is now waiting for the next regulatory steps, and hopes that the implementation will take place before autumn.
The reduction puts Italy in the pass with Germany and France
The measure was also an answer to the EU barrel reform in Directive 2022/542, which gave the most flexibility member states with respect to establishing lower VAT rates in certain categories of goods, including art. Germany had already reduced VAT in art sales from 19 percent to 7 percent, as of January 1. Meanwhile, France instituted a VAT rate of 5.5 percent in art. “The 5 percent Italian VAT adjustment allows industry professionals and collectors in Italy to operate within a competitive fiscal framework,” Elena Zaccarelli, a senior specialist with modern and contemporary art in Christie’s, told Obester.
Pietro Vallone, CFO of Massimodecar him, described the change as “a sensible decision.” He believes that the reform will not only promote sales, but also invigorate the broader cultural ecosystem around contemporary art, encouraging the Italian collection and creating new opportunities for young artists in the country. “It takes us back to a context of fair competition with key European and international markets, especially France and Germany,” he said. “We must constantly in this direction, and I am pleased to keep in mind that the thresholds for free movement have already been identified as the following objective.”
VAT reduction is ahead of a series of planned reforms aimed at promoting the competitiveness of the Italian art market. Althegh, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, initially resisted reducing VAT, faced the pressure of the cultural sector to align. In the Miart Fair in Milan in April, several art merchants distributed an open letter signed by 600 artists warning that keeping the high VAT risked Italy in a “cultural desert.” Nicolò Cardi de Cardi Gallery sees VAT reduction as the result of a collective effort throughout the Italian art sector. “There was a strong sense of unity and belief in our Italian identity within the art system,” he said. “We should be proud, we gain a great battle, one that will have a powerful and wide range of market.”
A 2021 report, Art: The value of the industry in ItalyRun by Nomisma in collaboration with the Leader Bank of Italy, Intessa Sanpaol In Europe. After measuring the economic impact of art sales in Italy, the study found that in 2019, the country registered a total turnover of € 1.46 billion. Given a 2.60 multiplier, the resulting economic activity, voltage, direct and indirect suppliers, as well as household consumption, promoted the general impact to € 4 billion. While the Italian artistic market currently represents only 1 percent of the world total, the name projects that VAT reduction could help galleries, old dealers and auction houses to generate an additional € 1.5 billion approximately approximately three years. This, in turn, would boost the broader economy, including indirect suppliers and household expenses, potentially reaching up to 4.2 billion euros.
Distributors and buyers face barriers beyond VAT
Even with a more favorable tax rate, Italy continues to apply strict export regulations, which leads to bureaucratic length procedures that have long discouraged international art trade. A formal export permit is still required for any work of art over 70 years and valued above € 13,500. Even Works By Denased Artists under 70 Years Old and Artworks Below The € 13,500 Threshold Must Be registered Through the Suestem The exported item and the circulation and the exported ited it -for -circion, and the circulation, and a detursion, and the champion, and a prostication of the writing of ITCE, and a detection, a discrogation, and the champion, and a discryoning, and the champion, and exports, and exports, recipes, an exceptional cultural interest.
Similar import and export continuations, with the same legal, administrative and financial burns, or established in the one reflected in the EU Regulation (EU) 2019/880, which enters into force on June 28, requires auction houses, galleries the blockctetebowtebowtebented all cultural good That the regulation regulates, the regulation, the regulation, the regulations of the regulations are expected to regulate, it is expected that the regulations of the regulations, it is expected that the Regulation of Regulations be of the regalization of the regalization, it is expected that the regulation of the regulations, the regulation regulations are expected to be expected that the regulation of regulations, whether of the regulation of Europe to introduce the regulation of Europe to introduce the regulations. Market, particularly in the sectors of antiques and decorative arts.
According to the Nomisma Report, the main art fairs in Italy had a direct economic impact or 68.1 million euros in 2019, promoted by spring and autumn editions of Merchantinfiera in Parma, Miart in Milan, Fiera Art in Bologna, Artissima in Florence and Chantiquaias the most important thing for ancient art. But among the key challenges identified by the Italian dealerships, their customer bases are expanding to reach foreign buyers (72 percent), forging new commercial relations (69 percent) and not surprise here that they are competitive with the most like the Sunte Eursenan de Sunte.
If VAT reduction will transform cities such as Milan into the main European art centers, as some have suggested, and remains to be seen Italian fairs such as Miart and Artissima as truly international events. In 2024, Artissima had 189 galleries from 34 countries on four continents, including 37 participants for the first time-March that offer new perspectives of the global south. The latest edition of Miart, in April 2025, had 179 galleries from 30 countries on five continents. However, according to many collectors and industry professionals, the two main fairs of Italy have become more provincial since the pandemic, with less international collectors who make the trip to the country (with the Biennial of Venice is the remarkable exception).
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