Court of Napoli, judgment of 7 September 2026, No. 12131

Contractual expert determination (perizia contrattuale) is distinct both from arbitration and from contractual arbitration (arbitrato irrituale), and may take on the character of contractual arbitration only where there is a definitive and unequivocal waiver by the parties of the exercise of their rights before the ordinary courts.
Where third parties are entrusted with a purely technical determination, in the absence of an express and unequivocal waiver of judicial protection, the clause does not remove the claim from the court's cognisance and does not render it inadmissible, not even as regards that part of the dispute entrusted to the expert.
The failure to commence or to complete the contractually agreed expert procedure does not preclude a decision by the ordinary court.