The Bank of Italy's Historical Archives are one of the principal sources for the study of Italian economic, monetary and banking history in the past two centuries. The archives hold documents of prime importance relating to the development of the national banking system, industrial history, local economies, and international economic relations. They also constitute an important source for biographical research, political history, and even some architectural history.
Our collections
The Archives contain the entire set of documents and records produced, received or variously acquired over the years by the Bank of Italy for conservation and public consultation. The collection is divided into three sections, namely the textual records archive, the photographic archive and the multimedia archive, with 16 linear kilometres of paper-based documents, more than 50,000 photographs and about 5,000 audiovisual items. These records run from the mid-nineteenth to the late twentieth century, the majority of which covering the period 1860-1970. With the addition of the historical archive of the Banco di Santo Spirito (recently entrusted to the Bank of Italy as a free loan), our Archives now hold records dating back to the second half of the sixteenth century. The archive of textual records comprises the Bank's Head Office Archives and the historical sections of the Bank's local branches. The Head Office Archives also hold the greater part of records from branches no longer in existence.
The Historical Archives
Historical Archives Working Papers
Other Publications of the Historical Archives