Important issues concerning the safeguarding of culturally significant assets are considered: the state of neglect of many Italian libraries, the inadequacy of the structures that house books and works of art and the inferior quality of material used to produce them, the privatisation of artistic wealth and the need, given the removal of European frontiers in 1992, for legislative reform and the creation of a supranational organization which could establish criteria for cultural assets preservation. Also discusses the problems of art thefts, the speculative nature of the art market and the rules governing it, and the protection of historically-important town centres, whether large or medium sized.