Among Italian art collectors, women and young people make their way, whose tastes range from the more traditional paintings (89%) to other goods such as books (29%), design objects (22%), NFTs and digital art (3 %). This is the portrait that emerges from 'Collectors and the value of art in Italy - 2024', the third volume of the editorial series promoted by Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking aimed at tracing a panorama of the art market of 2023 and its prospects. The volume contains a survey with a sample of 280 Italian collectors, out of a total of 6,398. The average age of collectors is between 50 and 59 years (30%), but those under 39 stand at 12% and their number, together with that of 40-49 year olds (15%) is increasing by 100%. compared to the previous edition. The number of women is also growing, with 40% of the sample being female, compared to 58% male. As for educational qualifications, university degrees and diplomas are confirmed as the most common levels of education (44%) followed by doctorates, master's degrees and specialization schools.
Today's collectors "buy new things", for example "photography is growing strongly, at almost 62%, followed by design with 22%", comments Guido Guerzoni, professor at Bocconi University. Italians also remain eclectic collectors, as they tend to collect more than one genre" and "they no longer collect alone, but almost 40% make use of the art advisory services of credit institutions, demonstrating the fact that, although remains an investment of passion, of an emotional or aesthetic nature, there is growing attention to the economic and financial dimension", continues Guerzoni. A point also highlighted by Gregorio De Felice, chief economist of Intesa Sanpaolo, according to whom the weight of collectors "with a clearly financial purpose" who for this reason need "information, data, investment indices and return on investment in the works". On the value of the collections, a question answered by 69% of the sample, 29 % of the collections have a value of less than 100 thousand euros and 14% above one million. Collectors were also asked to indicate the highest price ever paid for a single work. The majority declared a figure between 100 thousand euros , while 4% said they had exceeded 500 thousand euros. The average number of works in the collection is 98.
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