I LIVELLI FRANCABILI, OVVERO I PRESTITI DISSIMULATI DELLA CASA SECOLARE DELLE DIMESSE DI PADOVA (1628-1861)

The historical archive of the Dimesse of Padua preserves a considerable amount of documentation relating to the free-for-sale levels, which – as is known – were “dissimulated” loans, the documentary form of which was constituted by some notarial instruments; in practice, a document was drawn up where the notary registered the sale of a good, while in another – also called promissio francandi – the buyer committed to transfer full ownership of the good to the seller, subject to the return of the entire capital within a pre-established time frame, including the interest accrued in the meantime. This real credit activity, precisely because ofits complexity, deserved to be described and contextualized, especially in the internal articulation of the documentation produced. The picture that emerges from the study is that of a Paduan society of the late-modern age in which some members of a varied city nobility and some well-known figures – for example the violinist Giuseppe Tartini – had their ordinary and extraordinary needs financed by economically prosperous religious institutions, fully aware that they were carrying out a profitable financial activity, circumventing the prohibitions imposed by canon law regarding loans at interest.