The early 'bank' at the Monti di Pietà di Forlì: Unrecorded letterpress form.

[Early Credit & Lending] / [Monti di Pietà]. Si è dato credito nel Sacro Monte della Pietà di Forlì a … [Forlì]: s.n., [printed c. 1744-5, signed 12 May 1745]. Folio sheet [29.3 x 22.8 cm], [1] f. letterpress form completed in manuscript, with woodcut roundel of Man of Sorrows, cancelled manuscript annotations on verso. Folded in the manner common for such documents in this period, minor toning in left margin.
 
Unrecorded 18th-century letterpress form—illustrated with a woodcut roundel of the Man of Sorrows—used as a loan receipt for the Monte della Pietà di Forlì. The wider concept of Monti di Pietà as credit/lending institutions is well understood, and many histories of individual Monti di Pietà have been written, but at several points in its history the Monte di Pietà in Forlì suffered severe losses to its archives, making the present document an especially rare survival.
 
Charitable lending institutions known as Monti di Pietà sprung up in Italy during the middle of the 15th century to provide zero- or low-interest loans to the poor in an attempt to combat usurious practices by Jewish and other moneylenders (e.g., coarsini and Lombards). Monti di Pietà functioned more as non-profit pawnbrokers than as banks, but their history is still considered to be fundamental to modern financial practices (see, e.g., Muzzarelli for this history). 
 
The institution at Forlì was first conceived in 1487 and definitively founded in 1511. During a financial crisis in 1631, the Monte di Pietà di Forlì sold much of its archives as wastepaper. In 1797 French Republican troops under the command of Napoleon sacked the Monte di Pietà causing great losses, and in 1944-45 Allied bombing almost completely destroyed the Archivio del Monte (see Masotti).
 
The present document, printed on thick paper about the size of a folio leaf, concerns a loan for 28 scudi taken on 12 May 1745 by a certain Giovanni Antonio Bagnoli under the charge of an Abbate Brunelli. The document is signed by the Prior Baldassara Gaddi, and cancelled manuscript notes on the verso likely relate to the repayment of the loan and/or to goods held in collateral.  
 
 
OCLC, KVK, and OPAC locate no examples of this letterpress form.
 
* L. Masotti, “Il Monte di Pietà di Forlì,” in M. Carboni, M. G. Muzzarelli and V. Zamagni, eds., Sacri recinti del credito: Sedi e storie dei Monti di pietà in Emilia-Romagna, pp. 263-277; M. Carboni, “‘Giova non poco allo splendore e al comodo di questa città,’ Profilo storico del Monte di Pietà,” in G. Poma and L. Prati, eds., Il Monte di Pietà. Palazzo di Residenza della Fondazione Cassa dei Risparmi di Forlì, pp. 33-43; M. G. Muzzarelli, Il denaro e la salvezza. L’invenzione del Monte di Pietà; T. Fanfani, ed., Alle origini della Banca: Etica e Sviluppo economico; U. Benigni, “Montes Pietatis,” in C. Herbermann, ed., The Catholic Encyclopedia.
 
 
Transcription:
Si è dato credito nel Sacro Monte della Pietà di 
Forlì a [Gio: Ant: Bagnoli Sa(?) del Sig:e Abbate Brunelli] 
di Scudi [ventotto]
moneta recati contati del Medesimo [Gio: Ant: Bagnoli]
all’ infrascritto nostro Signor Priore in deposito da rimbor-
sarli dal Priore pro tempore alla semplice Restitutione del-
la presente Cedola. Dico Scudi [ventotto]
Questo dì [12: Maggio 1745:]
[Baldassara Gaddi] Priore
Francesco Rossi Segret.