Credit and accounting in early modern Italy: the case of the Monte di Pietà in Bologna

The foundation of Monti di Pietà by Franciscan friars in the fifteenth century represented a response to the problems of usury and difficult access to consumer credit. Some historians have highlighted the bank-like nature of the Monti, while others have considered them as economic institutions. This paper explores the case of the Monte di Pietà in Bologna during the early modern era, with particular reference to its governance model and its accounting and internal control practices. The presence of a well-preserved archive made it possible to perform a depth investigation of the emergence of accounting as a tool of control of the Monte.