The project "I Monti di Pietà e i loro archivi" (The Monti di pietà and their archives), relying on the already solid and substantial work on gathering material and information carried out by Centro di studi sui Monti di Pietà e sul credito solidaristico of Fondazione del Monte di Bologna e Ravenna, aims to register the European institutes of ethical credit, delineating history and characteristic also through to the addition of profiles within a relational database which makes clear links and evolutions.

Furthermore, the project aims to take a census of the documentation produced by these institutions still available to this day in archives both private - held by the institutes which have inherited the activity - and public - to which the documentation has either been given by institutes themselves or acquired through state agencies that, in many cases, took control and management during the nineteenth century (Congregazione di Carità, Ente nazionale di assistenza) - in order to facilitate the research and study of these institutions, in line with the vision of the Centro. These mappings and census have been made available on the web, in Italian and English, at the service of both experts and curious.

Established in 2001 at Fondazione del Monte di Bologna e Ravenna, Centro studi sui Monti di Pietà e sul credito solidaristico promotes research, collects bibliographic material, organizes conferences and initiatives to promulgate knowledge of entities and institutions in ethical banking, the Monti di Pietà in particular, originated in Italy from the second half of the fifteenth century, also thanks to the substantial organizational trhust, and theoretical reflection, by the Friars Minor Observant. Centro di studi – whose scientific committee is composed of Professors Mauro Carboni, Maria Giuseppina Muzzarelli and Vera Negri – constitutes the benchmark for anybody who's interested in these historical themes.

Visit the page of Centro di studi on Fondazione del Monte di Bologna e Ravenna web site.