The book Storia della Banca d'Italia. Tomo I. Formazione ed evoluzione di una banca centrale, 1893-1943(History of the Bank of Italy - Volume I - The birth and evolution of a central bank, 1893-1943), written by Gianni Toniolo and published in 2022 in the Bank of Italy Historical Series (Il Mulino Publishing House), is now freely accessible on this website. All the information can be found on the website of the Bank of Italy: https://www.bancaditalia.it/media/notizia/on-line-il-1-tomo-della-storia-della-banca-d-italia-1893-1943/?com.dotmarketing.htmlpage.language=102 The work opens with an overview of the origins of central banking, starting with the first banks founded in Genoa, Venice and Naples since the 15th century. It then traces the history of Banca d'Italia, whose precursors were the banks of issue operating on Italian soil in the mid-19th century.
Following its foundation in 1893, Banca d'Italia faced profound institutional changes which gradually led it to take on the functions of a modern central bank. Toniolo analyses monetary policy, the Bank's management of banking crises, its supervisory activity and role in the two world wars.
The book traces the changes in the Bank's organizational structure, focusing on the governors and directors general, and on its relations with governments, treasury ministers, and central bankers of other countries.
This account of the Bank's history up to 8 September 1943 highlights, among other things, how the Italian central bank played a greater role in defining the national economy than did other central banks in their respective countries.
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