Public private partnership for the enhancement of cultural heritage: The case of the benedictine monastery of catania

Cultural heritage governance is undergoing a change related to the roles of the public and private sector and the assessment of heritage as an instrument to achieve broader aims, in terms of social, cultural and economic development as the Council of Europe stated in its 2005 Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society. These changes have also characterised the Italian institutional framework where the law introduced a series of norms allowing different degrees of involvement of the private sector in the management of heritage sites and museums and/or of the 'ancillary' services necessary to favour their fruition (ticket sales, bookshop, cafeteria). The changes in the law facilitated the introduction of Public Private Partnership (PPP) in the heritage sphere, and examples of these are becoming more common. This paper considers one of these cases, where a private organisation, specifically a non-profit association-Officine Culturali-cooperates with a public institution-the University of Catania-to realise the activities necessary to enhance a heritage site which hosts one of the university's departments and is included in UNESCO's World Heritage List. The association stands out for its focus on participation that is clearly set in its mission. Looking at the activities run by Officine Culturali, two aspects deserve a closer analysis: product differentiation and the use of heritage enhancement as tools to obtain far-ranging social effects. The analysis illustrates the institutional arrangements that made possible the involvement of a private association in the enhancement of a publicly owned heritage site through the creation of a partnership between the association and the university of Catania. The chapter will focus on the activities of Officine Culturali considering, specifically, their focus on social inclusion and their capacity to attain it.

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