Mount of Piety, Ravenna venitian era

Mount of Piety. Hotels near Mount of Piety.

Foto: 1)facade Monte of Piety, via Diaz,2) Detail of  bas-relief e inscription

Among the important initiatives that arrived in Ravenna from the Signoria of Venice is the institution of the Mount of Piety in 1492.

The date is carved in an Istria stone above one of the entrances to the building that has always been the Mount of Piety headquarter. When the Mount of Piety opened, it became the only authorised institute for pledge loan, thus limiting the credit activity carried out in that period by the Jewish community.

Jewish banks, initially well tolerated by Venetian government, soon became unpopular because of their increasing interest rates (between 20% and 40%). Unpopularity grew when the Franciscan Order rebuked  Jewish moneylenders, following Bernardino da Feltre's preaching in Ravenna between 1487 and 1491.

The Mount of Piety, controlled by the Town Council and the Archbishop, attended to the needs of poor population, pursuing the organization principle of charity.

Financial loans were offered only for maintenance, with a rate fluctuating  between 1% and 5%. People gave personal items of value, mainly sheets, linen, gold and jewels, in exchange for a monetary loan.

As the centuries passed, however, the institute developed more typically bank functions using its capital to restore the Communal Budget or to grant loans to private citizens and for other financial operations.

The building still has the original XV century plant, with small round windows and terra-cotta Po Valley style  trims in the ledge. Vivid paintings on wood panels near one of the main entrances have been restored; unfortunately those that decorated the façade, by Niccolò Rondinelli, an Italian painter of the Reinassance period, pupil of Giovanni Bellini in Venice, have disappeared.

Only some fragments from  a larger  damaged  fresco representing  the Madonna with Child are saved in the Communal Art Gallery.

Prof. Gianni Morelli

The pleasure of fine accommodation in the centre of Ravenna: we recommend the Fabbri hotels for a pleasant stay as follows:

The Centrale Byron Hotel, 3-star hotel in the centre of Ravenna, close to the main momuments;

The Bisanzio Hotel, 4-star hotel in the centre of Ravenna, close to the main momuments;

Once you have reached the hotel and parked your car, forget it and walk everywhere, because everything is within walking distance.

The railway station is near our hotels and within walking distance