Valuation approaches to assess the cultural heritage

In the literature, the most common methods used to evaluate the market value of cultural heritage are the stated preference (SP) and the revealed preference (RP) methods. Both the methodologies present criticalities given their difficulty in the application, concerning the high level of detail of the questionnaire administered, the consistency between the empirical survey approach and economic theory and the definition of the demand curve close to the reality. Considering these premises and drawing on the experience of the International Valuation Standards (IVS), one of the main reference standards for the real estate valuation, the current papers aims at demonstrating how the market approach and the cost approach can be applied to evaluate the market value of cultural heritage by providing practical guidelines. The two classical methods of real estate valuation have been applied to assess the market value of the ruins of the castle of San Niceto located in the municipality of Motta San Giovanni in the province of Reggio Calabria (Italy).