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Reading History of the Popes, by von Ranke, the author mentions the creations of several Montes (one of them is Monte Pío). Does anyone know what is the date of the first Monte ever created and what were their purposes?

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A translation of the the text of The History of the Popes: Their Church and State by Leopold von Ranke is also available on Archive.org.

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    Can you include some more relevant information from the book, perhaps a quote, the years, which pope, etc?
    – Semaphore
    Commented Dec 26, 2017 at 19:17

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It seems that 1472 would be the oldest, and they appear to be a form of a charity/bank/fund for the poor. According to this site:

Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the oldest bank in the world, originated in 1472 as a Monte Pio (pawn agency) at the behest of the Magistracies of the Republic of Siena and was expressly instituted to give aid to the more underprivileged classes of the population during a time of particular hardship for the local economy.

If you are a Spanish speaker, this site may give you some more info. The translated page is not very helpful.

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