The Italian Parliament has introduced a bill that would allow the government to create a restitution process for art and cultural property lost under Fascist laws and during the broader Holocaust period.
Bill 2834 would enable the Italian Government to create a framework for reparations for art and other cultural items that were seized or otherwise looted due to antisemitic persecution that was codified and permitted by law under Benito Mussolini's Fascist government in 1938.
The bill was reviewed by the Chamber of Deputies’ VII Committee on Culture, Science, and Education on June 24. During the hearing, the President of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities (UCEI), Livia Ottolenghi, affirmed her support for the proposal.
"There is no need to repeat how deeply the wounds inflicted by the racial laws are still felt today by Italian Jews and our communities," Ottolenghi stated.
“Before they were subjected to persecution and death at the hands of the Nazi-Fascist regime, Jewish individuals were progressively stripped of their property. Many were forced to dispose of their assets under coercion, while others had their property outright confiscated. Even as the war had already been lost and Italy lay in ruins, the Fascist regime remained obsessed with confiscating Jewish property.
Filling gaps in Italian law, justice ready to be served
“With the bill under discussion, Italy is finally taking steps to fill a gap, through an initiative aimed at clearly establishing, in our country as well, a right to redress, certainly not for the lives lost and the suffering endured, but for the dispossession of artistic heritage - which a legal system that respects fundamental human rights must, in any case, ensure."
Italy, unlike some other European countries, never established a procedure for restitution, despite publicly backing the 1998 Washington Conference Principles on Nazi Confiscated Art as well as the 2009 Terezin Declaration, an international agreement aimed at correcting the massive economic and social wrongs suffered by victims of Nazi persecution during World War II.
The consequences of Italy's lack of a clear framework were reflected in a 2024 WJRO progress report, which found that Italy made only “some progress” over 25 years on fascist-era restitution.
Italy eyes new process to return Nazi and Fascist looted art
This bill will help ensure progress in restitution by creating an independent committee with the authority to enforce restitution and by removing bureaucratic hurdles that previously made returning property stolen during the fascist era a challenge.
Gideon Taylor, President of the World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO), also welcomed the advancing legislation.
"The bill offers a historic opportunity to finally deliver justice to victims of Nazi and fascist persecution and their heirs," Taylor said.
"In comparison to the experience of neighboring Western democracies during the past two decades, families seeking the return of their cultural heritage in Italy have faced considerable resistance. While operational and legal details remain to be resolved as the bill moves forward, this is a vital step toward creating a framework for restitution.“