Italy is adopting new rules on art loans to prevent squabbling and make sure major works are available under the right conditions.
According to guidelines set for approval, authorities would list a handful of works like Michelangelo's David which would be "untouchable." Under no circumstances would these four or five icons be allowed to move from their homes.
Another, longer list of Italy's vast art heritage would be up for loan, but under rigid safety and security conditions.
The rules were drafted after a highly publicised row this summer between the Brera Museum in Milan, which initially refused to loan Andrea Mantegna's famed Dead Christ for a huge exhibit in his adopted home Mantua to mark the fifth centenary of his death.
Art experts, as well as politicians of all stripes, weighed in with their views in a months-long tug of war that Mantua eventually won.
A similar war was waged over the loan to a Tokyo museum of Leonardo da Vinci's Annunciation.
In the end, Culture Minister Francesco Rutelli was forced to step in to give the loan his blessing, with the necessary safeguards.
Under the new rules, officials say, loaning works between state museums should be seen as the norm - unless there were special circumstances that argued against them. A limited number of works would be virtually off-limits, but the rest would be fair game.
However, the rules would not be set in stone, and would be up for review every three years.
"Works of art are like people. They get ill, and they get better too," said art expert Andrea Emiliani, who headed the commission that drafted the guidelines. The new rules also aim to cut the number of exhibitions that take place in Italy each year, making sure each one is a special event.
Curators would have to plan their exhibits for a year in advance, making sure they meet rigorous new standards.
"We're fed up of makeshift, flimsy shows, put together in a few months," Emiliani said. Culture Minister Francesco Rutelli agreed.
"We don't want people to keep over-hyping things," he said.
"We need more major exhibitions and fewer shoddy shows".
Many of the world's museums are very wary of loaning major works - both because of the risk of damage and the huge insurance coverage needed.
The Louvre and the Prado, for instance, regularly refuse loan applications for their most valuable properties, even from the most prestigious foreign institutes.
