The Casa of San Giorgio, Genoa

The Casa di San Giorgio, funded in 1407, managed the debts of the Commune of Genoa and was composed of all the Genoese creditors of the Commune. Unlike other systems of debt utilized in republican cities with extensive territorial holdings (like Florence or Venice), or those of the European monarchies in the medieval and early modern eras, the Casa progressively acquired rights and powers that were originally the Commune’s prerogative. No other financial system developed such a degree of autonomy relative to the political power that managed debt. In Genoa, only the wealthiest male creditors participated in the management of the Casa di San Giorgio, while all male citizens could vote in the Commune. This is the most important difference between the governance of the two institutions. Over the fifteenth century, the Casa di San Giorgio acquired both the right to levy all the gabelle (taxes) in all the areas under the Commune’s control and the compere (the sets of credits) attached to them. Private contractors paid the Casa di San Giorgio in advance and at a discount for the right to collect taxes, managing the raising of gabelle. The revenue San Giorgio received served as the basis for payment of the debts that the Commune owed its creditors. Unlike other public systems of debt, the interest rate was not inversely proportional to the value of the title, but depended on the revenue obtained by the selling of gabelle. Shares of the Casa di San Giorgio, the loca, produced an interest, the pagae, which varied over time. Both the loca and the pagae were negotiable in the secondary market. From 1408 to 1444 and from 1530 until 1805, the Casa di San Giorgio performed activities of a main central bank. Genoese bankers and citizens had accounts with the Casa di San Giorgio. The bank offered both deposit and credit operations. From 1446 on, the Casa di San Giorgio progressively acquired from the Commune territories that it governed until 1562 with the fullest extent of territorial authority. These rights meant that it was the Casa di San Giorgio, rather than the Commune, that administered justice and governed the populations of these territories: Caffa on the Black Sea, Famagusta in Cyprus, Corsica, the Lunigiana (northern Tuscany), and communities within the Liguria (Ventimiglia, Pieve di Teco, Levanto).