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Florence Bankers' Guild (Arte del Cambio) Flag

SKU: G33 Category: Portfolio:

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33,70 €
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Description

Florence Bankers' Guild (Arte del Cambio) Flag

Red, scattered with gold florins: the banner of the Arte del Cambio

This banner is a red field strewn with 23 gold coins, in alternating rows of five and four. Each coin carries the Florentine fleur-de-lis, so they read as florins, the gold coin of Florence.

The guild of the money changers

According to Italian Wikipedia, the Arte del Cambio was one of the seven major guilds (Arti Maggiori) of Florence. It was founded around 1202, when it separated from the Arte di Calimala, and it brought together money changers, dealers in precious stones and metals, and those who offered deposit and credit. Its members earned most from loans at interest and from sending money out of Florence by bill of exchange. The guild's patron saint was San Matteo, and from 1352 its seat was in Piazza della Signoria, under the so-called loggia dei Pisani.

Bezants on red

Italian Wikipedia gives the guild's arms as a red field scattered with gold bezants («di rosso seminato di bisanti d'oro»). A replica of the arms of the guilds, including the Arte del Cambio, can be seen on the facade of the Tribunale della Mercanzia in Piazza della Signoria. On this banner the bezants are drawn as florins with the lily, an interpretation of the arms.

The florin

The florin was first minted in 1252, in Florence and Genoa, in nominally pure gold, at 3.49 grams. It carried the fleur-de-lis badge of the city on one side and Saint John the Baptist on the other.

From the guild to the Medici

La Nazione reports that the most widely accepted opinion makes the Medici arms descend from the insignia of the Arte del Cambio, one of the guilds to which the Medici belonged: the guild's gold bezants on red would have been inverted and adopted by the family.

Who chooses it

For lovers of Florence and its history, for banks, bankers, money changers and accountants, for historical re-enactment groups and parades, for museums, shops, restaurants and collectors of Florentine heraldry. We sew it to order, in the size and fabric you choose above, and you see the delivery date before you pay.

Flag facts

Reconstruction from period descriptions, not from an official drawing.

Official name
Arte del Cambio
Validity
Historical
Years in use
unknown · period Before 1500
ISO code
IT-FI
Source of the drawing
Reconstructionreconstruction from period descriptions
Use
Not applicable
Proportions
2:3
Number of colours
1
Colour
Red
Design
Plain

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