A contractual arbitration award (lodo irrituale) has a contractual nature and constitutes an expression of the contractual will of the parties who, by means of an arbitration clause, accepted in advance the arbitrators' decision, producing effects pursuant to Article 1372 of the Civil Code.
A contractual arbitration award (lodo irrituale) is challengeable exclusively on the grounds exhaustively listed in Article 808-ter of the Code of Civil Procedure and on the ordinary grounds for annulment of a contract, but not for errors of law committed by the arbitrators in the interpretative and evaluative activity entrusted to them by the parties.
Territorial jurisdiction over the challenge to a contractual arbitration award is conferred, pursuant to Article 828(1) of the Code of Civil Procedure, on the court within whose territorial district the arbitrator who rendered the decision operates, the nature of the subject matter of the dispute referred to the arbitral body being irrelevant.
An arbitration clause that confers on a third party unconnected with the company the power to appoint the arbitrators, in compliance with Article 34(2) of Legislative Decree No. 5/2003, does not give rise to the defect referred to in Article 808-ter(2)(2) of the Code of Civil Procedure.