European Guide on
Banking and Reverse Mortgage Loans

History of the company/bank and archive description for Compagnia di San Paolo

In XVII and XVIII centuries a multitude of small legacies as well as major bequests for prominent families, enabling the Compagnia to embark on an intense financial activity. After a difficult period due to the advent of the French Revolutionary government in Piedmont, the Compagnia went through a deep transformation crisis at the time when Piedmont was changing from an absolute to a constitutional monarchy, in 1848, and Italy was establishing itself as a unitary and modern state. Under a decree signed by Vittorio Emanuele II on 11 January 1852 the confraternity was limited to merely religious practices, while the financial activity and the administration were entrusted to a new board, the Opere Pie di San Paolo, whose members were appointed by the government and the municipality, and whose chairman and deputy chairman were appointed by the King. The Opere Pie di San Paolo began a new development of its activities in the fields of non-profit and support for volunteers. Lending activities grew apace in the twenty years between 1859 and 1879, in which the interest-charging Monte di Pietà developed into a full-fledged credit institution, with a regular current account service. During the first 20 years of the twentieth century, in parallel with Italy's economic growth, and in particular Turin's strong industrial development, the Istituto stepped up its activity. In 1923 the Monte di Pietà obtained the formal acknowledgement of its prevailing ordinary credit activity over the traditional one of lending on pawn. There was a further formal and legal definition in 1928 when the Istituto proceeded to divide the Monte di Pietà into a Sezione Credito and a Sezione Pegno, and took on the new name Istituto di San Paolo di Torino - Beneficienza e Credito.

San Paolo's major opportunity for expansion came in 1931 when, the crisis of Banca Agricola Italiana having come to a head, the government appointed the Bank to take the failed bank's deposits in Piedmont, Liguria an part of the province of Pavia. San Paolo thus came to have ten offices in Turin and total of 110 other branches, most of which were spread through Piedmont and Liguria. This was implemented through its transformation into a public law bank (16 June 1932). The range of activities and services was further expanded: the Istituto was authorised to issue bank drafts, to extend agricultural credit (1936) and to undertake the distribution of tax stamps (1938). After the Second World War, the Istituto played a significant role in the financial reconstruction of Italy, and in 1950 it changed its name to Istituto Bancario San Paolo di Torino. By rapidly expanding over the 1960s and the 1970s, the Istituto managed to convert from a credit institution of strictly regional importance to a leading national and European bank. Along with the expansion of the Italian network, the Istituto also developed expertise in several other financial service segments, thereby evolving into a diversified financial institution. At the same time, the charitable work continued at an intense pace, in forms that were in keeping with changes in society.

Following the new legislation introduced by the Amato - Carli Bill in 1991 reorganisation was required: the banking activity were transferred to a limited company, Istituto Bancario San Paolo di Torino S.p.A., initially owned by a non profit body, the Compagnia di San Paolo, which is given social goals.

The Istituto was privatised in 1997 and merged with the Istituto Mobiliare Italiano- IMI S.p.A. the year after. The Compagnia has thus become a separate institution no longer holding the controlling shares of the bank, although it is still holding 16% of the Istituto stock.

In December 1998 the Italian Parliament approved a Bill of Reform of the former banking foundation. The Decree was issued in May 1999 and was followed by Treasury guidelines.

Within the new legal framework the Compagnia was in a position to draft its articles of association, approved in March 2000, thus becoming a fully powered private foundation.

Nowadays the Compagnia pursues goals of social good, to foster civic, cultural and economic development, by operating in particular in the following sectors: scientific, economic and legal research; education; art; preservation and valorisation of cultural heritage and activities and of environmental assets; health; assistance to the socially deprived categories. The Compagnia is also directly responsible of San Paolo Historical Archives and performs its statutory activities through two specialised bodies: Ufficio Pio, social works and assistance, and Educatorio Duchessa Isabella, to become the new Foundation for Schools.

The Historical Archives is composed by the documentary collections of the old Compagnia di San Paolo (1563- 1853), the collections of the Opere Pie charitable institutions following called Istituto di San Paolo (1853-1945) and the E.G.E.L.I. (Ente Gestione e Liquidazione Immobiliare) collection.

The documentation of Compagnia di San Paolo was catalogued in the analytic volume published in 1963 by G. Locorotondo in which the collections are divided according to source: Compagnia di San Paolo (in general), Monte di Pietà, Ufficio Pio and the other Opere Pie charitable institutions (Albergo di Virtù, Rifugio dei Cattolizzati, Soccorso, Esercizi spirituali, Deposito, Casa delle Forzate). This ancient papers corresponding to around 33 linear meters - 283 archival units - and the main series are: charters-regulations, minute books, balance sheets-accounts, documents relating to legacies, censuses and loans.

The Opere Pie collection correspond around 350 linear meters and include the documentation of Opere Pie-Istituto di San Paolo, Monte di Pietà, Uffcio Pio and Educatorio Duchessa Isabella (Opere Pie) and Property Credit. The main series are: charters-regulations, decrees, minute books, service orders and announcements concerning internal administration, balance sheets-accounts, legal proceedings, contracts-agreements, loans. In addition to documents produced to the Opere Pie-Istituto di San Paolo itself, the Historical Archive also houses the records of associated bodies: Banca A. Grasso & figlio S.p.A. (1874-1978) including 1413 records and Banca Popolare S.Gaetano (1928-1967) including 90 records. An analytic paper inventory of this second part of ducumentation is completed and this papers has been inventoried and classified on a database, researchable also through keywords.

The E.G.E.L.I. collection (approximately 6000 dossiers from 1938 to 1970 - 100 metres) include the documentation of this body who delegated the San Paolo Property Credit Section to administer assets confiscated or sequestrated from the area's Jews and enemy nationals on the basis of wartime dispositions and the race laws of 1938. The main series are: Assets of enemy nationals, sequestrated and confiscated Jewish assets, repealed distresses, occupied French territory.

In Historical Archive there is also a complete collection of photos (1951-1990) concerning artistic publications of Istituto di San Paolo.

E. TESAURO, Istoria della venerabilissima Compagnia della fede catolica sotto l'invocazione di San Paolo, nell'Augusta città di Torino, Torino, Sinibaldo 1657; ID., Istoria della venerabile Compagnia della fede cattolica sotto l'invocazione di San Paolo nell'Augusta città di Torino, Torino, Zappata 1701, 2° ediz. accresc.

M. ABRATE, L'Istituto Bancario San Paolo di Torino, Torino, 1963

L'Istituto delle Opere Pie di San Paolo in Torino, nel 350° anno di sua esistenza, Torino 1913

L'Istituto di San Paolo dalle origini ai giorni nostri 1563-1936, Torino 1936

L'Istituto Bancario San Paolo di Torino, 1563-1950, Torino, 1951

G. MERIGHI-A. CANTALUPPI, La Compagnia di San Paolo nel passaggio dall'Antico Regime all'età repubblicana, in Dal trono all'albero della libertà, (Atti del convegno, Torino, 11-13 settembre 1989), Roma, 1991

A. CANTALUPPI, Sull'Istoria della Compagnia di San Paolo di Emanuele Tesauro, in "Studi piemontesi", marzo 1992, vol. XXI, fasc. 1, pp. 149 - 153

A. CANTALUPPI, La Compagnia di San Paolo: mercanti e funzionari nell'èlite torinese tra Cinque e Seicento, (Atti del convegno Politica e cultura nell'età di Carlo Emanuele I. Torino, Parigi, Madrid Torino, 21-24 febbraio 1995), Firenze, Leo S. Olschki, 1999

R. A. GRASSI, I rapporti con la Compagnia di Gesù nelle carte dell'Archivio Storico della Compagnia di San Paolo, in La Compagnia di Gesù nella provincia di Torino dagli anni di Emanuele Filiberto a quelli di Carlo Alberto (Atti del convegno La Compagnia di Gesù e la Società Piemontese nella provincia civile di Torino ed i rapporti con la casa Savoia Torino 14-15 febbraio 1997), Torino SPABA, 1998, pp. 133 - 144.

Historical Archive's history

G. LOCOROTONDO, Archivio Storico dell'Istituto Bancario San Paolo di Torino, Torino, 1963

A. CANTALUPPI, L'Archivio Storico San Paolo attraverso i secoli, in Gli archivi degli istituti e delle aziende di credito e le fonti d'archivio per la storia delle banche (Atti del convegno Roma, 14-17 novembre 1989), Roma, 1995, pp. 596 - 604

A. CANTALUPPI, L'archivio storico San Paolo, in Industria, lavoro, memoria, Regione Piemonte, Fondazione Gramsci, ANAI, Industria, lavoro, memoria. Le fonti archivistiche dei sindacati dei lavoratori, delle associazioni imprenditoriali e delle imprese in Italia, (Atti del convegno Torino 7-8 novembre 1994), Torino, 1996, pp. 144 - 149

A. CANTALUPPI, L'Istituto delle Opere Pie di S. Paolo di Torino (1852 -1932): organizzazione interna e fondi archivistici, in Le carte preziose. Gli archivi delle banche nella realtà nazionale e locale: le fonti, la ricerca, la gestione e le nuove tecnologie, atti del convegno Trieste - Udine 16 -18 aprile 1997, Trieste, A.N.A.I. Sezione Friuli - Venezia Giulia, 1999

COMPAGNIA DI SAN PAOLO, The Vineyard of Madama Reale and the San Paolo Historical Archives, Torino, 1995

Collana "Quaderni dell'Archivio Storico":

1. P. GIORDANO, I censi presso la Compagnia di San Paolo nei secoli XVIII e XIX, Torino 1997

2. F. LEVI, D. ADORNI, G. GENOVESE, Le case e le cose. La persecuzione degli ebrei torinesi nelle carte dell'EGELI, Torino 1998

3. F. LUPANO, La Compagnia di San Paolo e il servizio per i poveri nella città di Torino 1814-1851, Torino 1999

The Historical Archive is open to researches from Monday to Friday.; it is essential that use has been agreed with the archivist.