11411 Genova the place where banks began

An interesting little piece about some highish level academic research on the origins of the banking system.

[url=http://www.economist.com/books/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12884971]A question of principal | The Genoa connection | The Economist[/url]

Bankers were known as 'banchieri', because they set up shop on 'banche' (benches). When a banker went bust (in the old days) they would be shamed into breaking their bench - hence bancarotto meaning bankrupt.

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General chat about Italy

I knew about the Monte dei Paschi di Siena group, which includes Banca Toscana and MPS Finance as the oldest surviving bank in the world; however, I thought that the Knights Templar were the first European bankers starting in the 1100's.
Here is some interesting information about Monte dei Paschi:
[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monte_dei_Paschi_di_Siena]Monte dei Paschi di Siena - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/url]

I always thought it was the Knights Templers, taking notes to and from the Holy Land........well ya live an learn

DARN.....GALA BEAT ME .......LOL

What about 'them lot in Venezia (Shilock? etc) when did they get cracking at the noble art?????