Biccherna
The Biccherna was the magistrate or chancellery of finance from the 13th to the 14th century for the republic and then city of Siena, region of Tuscany, Italy.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/83/Tavoletta_di_Biccherna.jpg/220px-Tavoletta_di_Biccherna.jpg)
The records of the office are significant not only because Siena was one of the earliest and most important banking centers of medieval Europe, but also because the books that contain these records were bound with painted leather covers, often made by major artists.[1] These covers tend to display secular subject matter that glorifies the city's government and its citizens.
Many of these covers are displayed in the Archives of the State of Siena located in the Palazzo Piccolomini located on via Banchi di Sotto corner via Rinaldini.
Gallery[]
Table of Camerlengo Don Gregorio, Umiliati Monk (1324)
Table with Annuciation (1445) by Giovanni di Paolo
Table of the camarlengo Ildebrandino Pagliaresi (1264), by Dietisalvi di speme
Table # 72
Madonna of the Earthquake by Francesco di Giorgio
Pope Pius II Names his Nephew Cardinal by Francesco di Giorgio
Table with the Office of the Camerlengo
Table with office of the tax-collector
Biccherna Cover: The Tribute Offering (c.1364) by Lippo Vanni
Tablet of Camarlingo Don Ugo, Monk of San Galgano (1258) by
Pandolfo Petrucci enters through
Siege of Sienese families in Montalcino in 1559
References[]
- ^ Encyclopedia Treccani, entry on Biccherna.
- Republic of Siena