Recognition of foreign professional qualifications

IT / EN

The Ministry of culture (previously Ministry of cultural heritage and activities and tourism) is the competent Italian authority for the recognition of the foreign professional qualifications of:

Tecnico del restauro di beni culturali (Restoration technician of cultural heritage)
Restauratore di beni culturali (Restorer of cultural heritage)

These are both regulated professions in Italy, the access to and pursuit of which are contingent upon specific professional qualifications within the meaning of Directive 2013/55/EU, transposed in Italy by Legislative Decree No 15 of 28 January 2016.

Two scenarios are possible:

freedom to provide services, i.e. temporary mobility enabling a person to exercise the profession immediately by submitting a prior declaration, renewed each year, attesting to the qualifications held and/or at least one year’s professional experience during the last 10 years (the condition of one year practising the profession shall not apply when the profession or education and training leading to it is regulated);
right of establishment, which implies permanent participation in the economic life of a Member State and involves a procedure for the recognition of a foreign qualification based on a comparison between the education and training required in italy to practise the profession and that received by the applicant, following submission of a specific application. After receiving the complete application for recognition, the authority has 3 months to conclude the procedure by either:

- granting the application, by means of a specific decree published on the website page (https://dger.beniculturali.it/professioni/riconoscimento-qualifiche-professionali-estere/decreti-di-riconoscimento-qualifiche-estere/)
- granting the application subject to the passing of compensatory measures (e.g. aptitude test or adaptive internship), where there are substantial differences in the duration or in the subjects of the education and training received compared to the training required in Italy; studies and professional experience are also assessed, if documented, to reduce the compensatory measure where appropriate;
- rejecting the application if there are differences in the training that cannot be compensated for or if the requirements of the Directive are not met.

Non UE professional qualifications

Professional qualifications obteined by a third-country national or outside the territory of the European Union may be recognised, for the pourpose of the right of establishment only, under Articles 39, 49 and 50 of Presidential Decree No 394/99 (implementing the Consolidated Law on Immigration) and under the subsequent Presidential Decree No 334/04, which extends the possibility of recognition to non-EU professional qualifications.

From 1 January 2021, these rules are applied also to professional qualifications obteined by the United Kingdom (additional information).

How to apply

Application for the recognition of professional qualifications must be submitting using the appropriate onlineforms, following these steps:

Register on the platform Professionisti di Beni Culturali via the menu item: Registrati
Log in via the Accedi menu item, by entering user (your fiscal code) and the password chosen during registration
Select the menu item “Qualifiche estere” and the appropriate form.
Fill the form, attaching required documents and send it by using the Submit button.

No other methods of submitting or sending the application for recognition are accepted. Any documents sent via other channels to the Ministry’s offices will be considered inadmissible.