Il restauro di opere d’arte in Italia e il processo di creazione del valore. Evidenze empiriche dalla provincia di Pesaro e Urbino (Italia).

The valorization of cultural heritage represents a way to resolve the socio-economic crisis. Of particular importance are the companies in the field of restoration of works of art, so far neglected by the management and marketing literature, although it represents an extremely important sector in a country like Italy where there is a high concentration of historical and artistic heritage which needs continuous maintenance and qualification. The purpose of this paper is to study the sector of restoration firms of works of art by adopting a marketing perspective through a qualitative and quantitative approach. The study was carried out by means of direct interviews with entrepreneur-restorer, in the period May-July 2014, involving 31 businesses in the province of Pesaro and Urbino who perform "activities for the conservation and restoration of works of art”. The analysis has allowed to increase the knowledge of the restoration industry and to understand the value creation process of a sample of restoration companies In the managerial perspective is that to better address the competitive challenges and increase the value, companies should develop more marketing skills. The paper suggests new paths of research to better understand the problems of the sector