The Court of Florence returns to rule in favor of the Galleria dell’Accademia of Florence with a recent ruling regarding the abusive use of the image of Michelangelo’s David. The case, decided by the Court, involves two companies, called into question by the Ministry of Culture, for having used a life-scale reproduction of Michelangelo’s masterpiece, kept by the museum, for commercial purposes and in the absence of the required authorizations. The two companies were ordered to pay damages.
The image of Michelangelo’s masterpiece “has been seriously altered and mortified” writes the Court of Florence in the sentence. «The work of Michelangelo’s genius is, therefore, commonly used for advertising and commercial purposes. In this way, the very high artistic and cultural value of the work being discussed is humiliated and debased – to the point of annihilation”.
Furthermore, the judges recognize the focal point of heritage protection in “culturally qualified and free use by the entire community according to methods oriented towards the development of culture and the promotion of knowledge, by the public, of the historical and artistic heritage of the Nation”. What has already been stated in the previous non-definitive sentence no. is therefore reiterated. 1207 of 04/21/2023 of the Court of Florence, with which the existence of the right to the image of cultural heritage was declared for the first time as an expression of the constitutional right to the collective identity of citizens who recognize themselves in same as the Nation.
On the assumption of the existence of the right to the image of cultural property, as a constitutionally guaranteed right pursuant to articles 2 and 9 of the Constitution and article 1 of the Cultural Heritage Code, in addition to patrimonial damage, non-pecuniary damage was also recognized and the two companies were sentenced to compensation, the amount of which remains to be defined. «This recent ruling constitutes a further important recognition for the defense of art and cultural heritage in Italy», states Cecilie Hollberg, director of the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence, which has been committed for years to protecting the image of Michelangelo’s work and of the values it represents.