Piero Bellante

Piero Bellante is a lawyer and co-founder of Bellante & La Lumia Studio Legale in Verona, and the recipient of the Trade & Customs Law Expert of the Year in Italy award at the 2024 Corporate INTL Global Awards. Qualified to practise before the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation, he leads the firm's work in customs law, a field described as an area of particular competence for the practice and one in which he has built a reputation among the leading Italian specialists.

Bellante's expertise spans the technical and contentious aspects of customs and international trade regulation. His work encompasses export control, rules of origin, the determination of customs valuation, and product labelling and safety, areas that sit at the heart of the compliance obligations facing companies engaged in cross-border trade. He has extensive experience in managing complex customs disputes in both administrative and judicial settings, representing clients before the authorities and the courts where questions of classification, valuation, origin and duty liability are contested. His authority in the field is reflected in a body of editorial and published work on customs law that features among the firm's principal contributions to the discipline.

The firm was founded in 2000 by Piero Bellante together with Maria Rita La Lumia, both of whom are qualified before the Court of Cassation, and is based on Via Oglio in Verona. Its philosophy emphasises not only the resolution of disputes but also their prevention, through preventive consultation and mediation aimed at avoiding litigation where possible. Alongside its customs practice, the firm advises in civil and commercial law, family law and legal auditing, giving it a broad base from which to serve its clients while retaining a clear specialisation in trade and customs matters.

Bellante & La Lumia is a founding member of LegalAssociati, a professional network established in 2001, which extends the firm's reach and connects it to other practitioners for matters requiring wider coordination. For businesses whose activities depend on the movement of goods across borders, membership of such a network complements the firm's specialist customs expertise, supporting clients whose trade exposes them to the laws of more than one jurisdiction.

Trade and customs law occupies a demanding technical space in which the rules governing tariffs, origin, valuation and export controls change frequently and carry significant commercial consequences. As a Cassation-qualified lawyer with deep experience of customs disputes and a substantial record of published analysis, Piero Bellante is well placed to guide companies through this environment. The recognition conferred by the 2024 Corporate INTL Global Awards affirms his standing as a leading Italian expert in trade and customs law and reflects the specialist reputation that his Verona-based firm has established in the field since its foundation.