Abstract

The article looks back at the transformation process of Lyric-Symphonic Foundations which were once considered public bodies but which, since 1996, have been qualified as legal persons governed by the Civil Code and can now be considered as partially private bodies. A recent reform of 2010, still to be completed, has continued this transformation process, conferring on some of the top cultural foundations possessing specific economic and financial characteristics, the possibility to obtain greater organizational and management autonomy. A delicate issue has thus arisen concerning whether these foundations should be governed by public or private law in some important areas such as accounting, responsibility of administrators and regulation of contracts. This article takes a brief look at these issues, which are still largely open in the Italian legal system.