Artist in Venice...

Member since 01 May 2011

giobbiMember01 May 2011 19:48:49

I am a New York based painter considering to expat to Venice for a few months. Could someone inform me of the legal considerations for selling paintings and sketches in Venice? Is there a legal permit or can one just set-up, paint, and sell? Thank you!

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Paolo TN Active member

Member since 02 May 2011

Paolo TNActive member02 May 2011 11:19:07

Hi giobbi !

Unfortunately you cannot just set-up, paint and sell. Indeed Venice, Florence, Rome and many other italian towns would be submerged by painters. Hence there are some restrictions.

There's quite a lot of bureaucratic paperwork to do. Here you find the requirements (in Italian):
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=e … M1wK&hl=en

To make a long story short you need:
1. a proof that you are a professional painter or you have an academic title in painting. If you're foreigner you must provide a declaration (in Italian) by your embassy or consulate;
2. You need a "partita iva", id est an Italian fiscal code, something akin to your Social Security number.
3) You need to fill a lot of other forms to police, etc.

Eventually, I'm afraid there could be problems obtaining a fiscal number with a touristic visa but I'm not sure about this last point.

Anyway, if you are serious about this thing, I suggest you to contact the "Scuola Internazionale di Grafica" in Venice. They have English courses of painting and perhaps they know some tricks or you can get a license through them after a course (I've no idea, but they are the only ones to really know what you could do). This is the website:
scuolagrafica.it/scuola-internazionale-di-grafica/international-programs/