The Bank of Italy was established in 1893 by Law No. 449 of 10 August, 1893, and and began operations on January 1, 1894.
The highest appointment at the time was that of Director General, and until 1899 he and two deputies formed the Board of Management. The Statute ratified by decree of 18 June 1899 abolished the Board and eliminated one post of Deputy Director General.
The Directorate was instituted with the reform of the Statute, ratified by Decree 1404 of 21 June 1928, which created the post of Governor and, below that, the posts of Director General and Deputy Director General. In 1969 the second post of Deputy Director General was re-instituted. Law 262 of 28 December 2005 containing "Provisions for the protection of savings and the regulation of financial markets" established the Directorate as a collegial body consisting of the Governor, the Director General and the Deputy Directors General.
List of Governors
- Bonaldo Stringher (3 July 1928- 24 December 1930)
- Vincenzo Azzolini (10 January 1931 - 4 June 1944)
- Luigi Einaudi (5 January 1945 - 11 May 1948)
- Donato Menichella (7 August 1948 - 17 August 1960)
- Guido Carli (18 August 1960 - 18 August 1975)
- Paolo Baffi (19 August 1975 - 7 October 1979)
- Carlo Azeglio Ciampi (8 October 1979 - 29 April 1993)
- Antonio Fazio (4 May 1993 - 20 December 2005)
- Mario Draghi (29 December 2005 - 31 October 2011)
List of Directors General
- Giacomo Grillo (28 December 1893 - 24 February 1894)
- Giuseppe Marchiori (25 February 1894 - 11 November 1900)
- Bonaldo Stringher (18 November 1900 - 2 July 1928)
- Vincenzo Azzolini (3 July 1928 - 9 January 1931)
- Pasquale Troise (30 January 1931 - 9 May 1940)
- Giovanni Acanfora (22 May 1940 - 26 July 1943)
- Antonino Cimino (25 February 1944 - 28 June 1944)
- Niccolò Introna (5 January 1945 - 18 April 1946)
- Donato Menichella (19 April 1946 - 6 August 1948)
- Paride Formentini (18 September 1948 - 10 June 1959)
- Guido Carli (31 October 1959 - 17 August 1960)
- Paolo Baffi (18 August 1960 - 18 August 1975)
- Rinaldo Ossola (19 August 1975 - 30 July 1976)
- Mario Ercolani (31 August 1976 - 27 June 1978)
- Carlo Azeglio Ciampi (16 July 1978 - 7 October 1979)
- Lamberto Dini (8 October 1979 - 11 May 1994)
- Vincenzo Desario (18 October 1994 - 1 October 2006)
- Fabrizio Saccomanni (2 October 2006 - 28 April 2013)
- Salvatore Rossi (10 May 2013 - 9 May 2019)
- Fabio Panetta (10 May 2019 - 31 December 2019)
- Daniele Franco (1 January 2020 - 12 February 2021)