Court of La Spezia, judgment of 27 August 2026, No. 473

The difference between arbitration and contractual arbitration (arbitrato irrituale) lies in the fact that, in arbitration proper, the parties intend an award to be reached which is capable of being declared enforceable and of producing the effects provided for by law, whereas in contractual arbitration they intend to confer on the arbitrators a mandate to settle the dispute by contractual determination.
An arbitration provided for by an arbitration clause which states the parties' undertaking to treat the award as final and binding in the same way as a contract concluded by them is contractual arbitration (arbitrato irrituale), it being immaterial that the decision is stipulated to be binding and that the decision is to be made according to law without compliance with the forms of the Code of Civil Procedure, provided that the principle of audi alteram partem is observed.
An express undertaking by the contracting parties to give full and immediate effect to the award as if it constituted an obligation assumed by themselves points to the contractual nature of the mandate conferred on the arbitrators.
An arbitration clause falls among those requiring specific approval in writing pursuant to arts. 1341 and 1342 cod. civ. only if it establishes arbitration proper, since otherwise it lacks the character of derogating from the jurisdiction of the courts.
Joining a consortium body whose articles of association include the arbitration clause, with knowledge of those articles, renders the clause enforceable against the member.
The inapplicability of the special rules on corporate arbitration to a non-profit body carrying on external activity does not entail the inadmissibility of the arbitration clause, which remains subject to the general rules on arbitration.
A finding that an arbitration clause establishing contractual arbitration (arbitrato irrituale) is valid and effective entails a declaration that the claim brought before the ordinary court is inadmissible (improponibile).