Assessing the Existence Value of Cultural Heritage. The Economic Evaluation of the “Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista” in Venice

The economic evaluation of cultural heritage has traditionally focused on use values, often neglecting non-use components such as existence value. The current contribution investigated the “Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista” in Venice as a case study to explore how existence value can be integrated into eco-nomic assessment framework. The research combined traditional real estate valua-tion methods with approaches derived from welfare economics, including demand estimation and proxy indicators of collective appreciation. Two alternative scenar-ios are analyzed, namely a private investment model and a public-oriented cultural system, interpreted as mechanisms for revealing different components of total eco-nomic value. The results show that, beyond market value, the asset generates a significance existence value linked to its historical symbolic, and identity-related dimensions. The study contributes to the ongoing debate on the economic justi-fication of heritage conservation by proposing an integrated framework capable both use and non-use values in high-tourism urban contexts.