Sul potere autorizzatorio esercitato dalla Soprintendenza nel caso di richieste dirette al superamento delle barriere architettoniche in costanza di edifici privati vincolanti per motivi storico-artistici

The paper verifies whether and to what extent the right of people with disabilities to access to buildings of cultural interest is limited by the public interest in the conservation of the property for historical and artistic reasons. The theme is particularly relevant in the private building sector: the Italian administrative judges has often to verify the legitimacy of the refusal of the competent authority to the requests of people asking to install an elevator in a building under cultural and artistic heritage constraints. The first part of the paper will focus on the relationship between the two interests at hand (that of accessibility, claimed by individuals, and that of the conservation of the tied asset, protected by the public administration). In the second part, the power of authorization of the Superintendency is examined: it has to verify that the planned intervention is compatible with the historical characteristics of the building where action should be taken. Finally, the third part of the analysis, in light of the administrative case-law, will assess when and why the denial measures of the relevant authority are in general unlawful and how the administrative judge, in that case, decides on their invalidity.