I'm partaking in an art exhibition in Genoa in January and need to ship down one of my paintings. The painting is 60 x 60 x 5 cm and weight about 3 kg, so not too large. It's quite sturdy in general, but has a fragile surface.

Any recommendations for which service to use? UPS/similar or something else?

Thank you! :-)

I would drive myself- Genoa is not far. Make it into a long weekend- ask a friend to join you if you don't drive.

I cannot endorse any shipping company. I had delays or other problems with all of them in my job. But none of them is specially bad, a good protective case for the painting can do a fine job during transport

I'm saying sorry in advance because I switch now to money issues and I'm sure you value your work beyond money. If you ship it, all customs from IT know is you're exporting it, therefore VAT must be paid. Of course, it's only for an exhibition, you did not sell the painting to anyone, therefore it's a temporary export. There's a worldwide standard document to show customs people it's only a temporary export: the ATA carnet. You get this document from the local chamber of commerce and annex it to the shipping. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATA_Carnet

Regular post will send it for 48 CHF including insurance for 3000 CHF, a few days for delivery.

Unless you use a dedicated art shipping company I think they're all pretty similar - i.e. pack it at least twice as well as you would think reasonable.

Get an ATA carnet and drive it down. Much simpler.

I would second the recommendations to either use a specialist company or drive down yourself, having had a bad experience myself with shipping.

I bought a large watercolour painting in Wales a few years ago, and the artist shipped it to Switzerland via one of the big commercial delivery companies, using the insurance proposed by the shipper. The painting arrived damaged (the frame and glass were broken, and the glass shards had scratched the surface of the painting in multiple places), but the insurance refused to pay "because it was not packaged properly".

OP: what you haven't stated is what the artwork is worth. You also haven't stated the medium.

It's obviously not a standard canvas on a stretcher as it weighs 3Kg!

What it is will help decide how to get it to it's destination. Does the 3Kg include a frame and glass?

If it's framed with glass, I'd be careful about using a courier as it well may get broken, as Stephen said.

If you just want a courier than I use https://www.transglobalexpress.co.uk/ and go for one you like.

Make sure you package it well.

Can we see a photo of the artwork on here?

Hey guys, thank you so much for all your swift responses! It is a stretched canvas, so no glass thankfully. Value between 500–1000 CHF. Photos below. As you can see, the surface is quite intricate and fragile. Not entirely sure how to pack that without damage...

Have considered driving down too, perhaps that is the best option in the end. If Covid permits, that is...but will look into your shipping suggestions too. Thank you!