Valuing the historical heritage: the case of the Venetian Villas in Italy

Purpose The historic assets are heterogeneous and different to each other, and for this reason, consolidated valuation methodologies do not exist in practice or in the literature. It is, therefore, necessary to dwell on the study of a particular historic building type or category. The assessment process of the valuers of Venetian Villas was explored, focusing on the study of the valuation function construction. The paper investigated if a possible value function, based on the partition of the characteristics, which significantly influence the value, exists and it is generalizable to the whole set of Venetian Villas. The purpose of this paper is to contribute knowledge on the economic valuation of Venetian Villas. Design/methodology/approach An application of Hedonic Pricing study to a database of 71 Venetian Villas has been tested. This statistical procedure allowed the authors to discover which results in a percentage of property values can be attributed to the historical characteristics of a building. Using a multiple linear regression and its variables an analysis of residuals and data relating to the variance has been performed. Findings This research identifies and proposes, therefore, a valuation approach that can be generalizable to the whole set of Venetian Villas (over 4,000 properties). The models show that the most important variables which influence the value of the villas are: age, internal and external area, maintenance conditions, and author. This model could be used for future valuations of the same type of asset. Originality/value The model enables valuers to address better to the property valuation of the Venetian Villas through the valuation functions, which suggest which are the main features which focus in the case of a Venetian Villa valuation and what impact they have on the value asset. The model can be specifically used for valuation reports in the enhancement project of such properties.