Learning objectives

The course is included in the learning area on Food, fashion and cultural heritage. The course illustrates the emergence of the need, which has existed since the modern age, to identify and protect a set of tangible and intangible assets in which the civil community recognises a founding and central element of its cultural identity, a plurality of cultural elements belonging to the common tradition of a people and of which the law itself is an integral part. Taking into consideration a broad historical period, ranging from the recovery of the various traditions of numerous Italian cities, carried out for example by Muratori in the 18th century, to the contemporary movements claiming the original cultural heritage of the natives of America or Australia. The role of the law will be highlighted and the ways in which it has hindered or favoured the development of these cultural legacies, and above all, the salient stages of the evolution of Italian and international legislation and case-law on these issues will be studied, with a focus on the constitutional principles involved in the affirmation of ancient traditions.
By the end of the course, students will have acquired basic fundamental knowledge about the emergence of the concept of cultural heritage, its progressive spread and the ways and forms through which law has contributed to this historical evolution.
Students will also acquire the ability to use the historical knowledge they have acquired to face and solve practical problems typical of the professional context in which they will operate. Students will also be able to verify the practical consequences of the theoretical framework and to set, in written and oral form (and also through group work, written exercises and the method of Problem Based Solving - PBS), the solution to concrete issues, using the appropriate and specific disciplinary vocabulary, adopting the correct lines of reasoning and argumentation, and formulating autonomous judgments. The teaching method used is functional to the continuous learning and updating of acquired knowledge.