An arbitration clause referring to the arbitrators disputes concerning the interpretation or performance of the contract, in the absence of an express contrary intention, confers arbitral jurisdiction only over disputes whose causa petendi lies in the contract itself, and not over disputes in which the contract is merely a factual premise. An obligation to repay an undue payment (ripetizione di indebito), even if arising from a transaction involving the conclusion of a contract, remains an obligation founded on the finding that a prior performance was made sine causa or ob causam finitam, and may have the contract as a mere occasion but not as its true basis, arising from the law and not from the prior contract.
A statutory arbitration clause that refers to the arbitrators disputes arising in connection with the relations between members and between them and the company or the board of directors applies exclusively where at least one of the parties to the litigation holds the status of member, with the consequence that, where neither party holds such status, the clause does not apply.