REGIONAL SPENDING ON CULTURE. CPT data from the Regions and data from the Management Control Information System for Tuscany

In this note, we analyze the consistency and evolution of regional spending on culture.

Using data from the CPT (Conti Pubblici Territoriali, or Territorial Public Accounts) published on the website of the Department of Cohesion Policies, we compare the performance of Tuscany with that of other regions and autonomous provinces. CPT data are very useful because they are estimated in the same way for the entire country, allowing for reliable comparisons. However, they also have some limitations: they refer to financial flows actually paid or collected and not to committed resources and, above all, they take a long time to compile, so the most recent data available to date is for 2021. This source highlights the different spending capacity enjoyed by ordinary regions compared to regions and provinces with special status, including in the cultural sector. In terms of average expenditure per resident, Tuscany ranks perfectly in line with the ordinary regions of central and northern Italy, with a value of €160 in 2021. This figure is the sum of expenditure in Tuscany by the various institutional levels, i.e., the State (62%), the Region (4%), municipalities (26%), and regional and local public enterprises (8%). Compared to the average figures for comparable regions, Tuscany shows slightly higher shares for municipalities and the region and slightly lower shares for public enterprises.

The analysis of ongoing expenditure for Tuscany alone uses data from the regional information system developed by the “Strategic and Management Control” department, which tracks and classifies all financial resources passing through the regional budget. This is a database rich in information and highly up-to-date (data published from 2020 to 2025), but obviously only concerning resources ‘intercepted’ in some way by the Region. The data refer to both expenditure commitments and resources for which a payment order has been issued. With the data thus made available, it was possible to carry out an initial exploratory analysis of regional expenditure on culture, distinguishing between current expenditure and capital expenditure. The former tends to be more stable over time, at around €33 million per year, while the latter is subject to significant fluctuations depending on the resources available, which is why it was very high in 2025 (€58 million) thanks to the funds made available by the PNRR and EU cohesion policies.

From a thematic perspective, regional current expenditure is essentially divided into two categories: structural contributions to entities permanently included in the regional cultural system and those that come from participation in calls for proposals and the submission of projects. The main areas of activity, in line with regional competences, which do not relate to protection (which is a state competence) but only to promotion and cultural policies, consist of live and recorded performances, museums of regional importance, and library networks. The first area absorbs the largest share of resources, on average 57% of total current expenditure in the years observed. There are also many individual projects that receive specific attention (Culture of Memory, Artistic Residences, Medici Villas and Gardens, Via Francigena, Rural Architecture and Landscape) with the objectives of promotion and social inclusion.

Capital expenditure, on the other hand, is entirely allocated to the restoration and enhancement of the region’s cultural heritage. Unlike current expenditure, which is distributed in a manner more similar to the geographical distribution of the population, investment expenditure is more decentralized, given the geographical spread of the region’s heritage. Overall, therefore, there is a strong focus on the wider Tuscany region.

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