"The conceptualization of 'governmentality' in the Romagna-Tuscany Province from the de' Medici's to the Lorena's domination: organization and accounting evidences (1513, 1776)"

The interest towards the administration of Terra del Sole (The Land of Sun) under the de’ Medici’s domination and the subsequent Lorena’s domination, reflects the passage from the Ancient Régime to the Modern State. Some historians argue that Lorena’s Peter Leopold I gave more autonomy to the individual Municipalities and stressed the fiscal and administrative perspective instead of the centralized military de Medici’s perspective. From a financing point of view the passage is pointed out by a simplification of taxation that means also a shift of power from the noble classes to the middle classes (bourgeoisie). Despite this consideration, we need to consider the geo-political situation of Italy (see Figure 1) that is particularly fragmented if compared with the shaping of national States or extended Empires/ Kingdom, like in the rest of Europe. This fragmentation affected the spread of the Enlightenment theories and determined a puzzle diffusion of fiscal and administrative innovations, along with the change of the relationship between citizens and State. Considering some aspects like the taxation system and the public debt, the main difference between Ancient Régime and Modern State is tied to the basis of taxation but not on the type of taxes that mainly remain indirect (customs duties, use taxes, …) as they guaranteed a definite revenue and were collected in fixed and controllable places while the direct taxes made technical difficulties both for the verification of taxable income and for the political resistances to renounce to historical privileges (Dal Pane, 1960). The public debt was mainly tied to war expenses and it grew up between XVI and XVIII centuries but it generally remained under the control of the different States. The aim of the present paper is to understand the real impact of the change from de’ Medici’s to Lorena’s government on the Municipality of Castrocaro and the Land of Sun (Grand Duchy of Tuscany) from an organizational and a financial point of view. The study drives the following research questions: - how did the relationships between the main administrative roles at the Municipality level and the main central administrative roles (in Florence) change? - how did the income/expenses change for the Municipality? The investigation would also help a better understanding of the organizational figures of judges that are in the same time state officials and accountants. The period considered is relevant for its historical significance, since the XVI and XVIII centuries represent an under-researched period in accounting history , as Williams and Wines (2006), Carmona (2004) and Anderson (2002) point out. Furthermore the concept of “change” is analysed in a non-Anglo-Saxon country, trying to understand the “governability” project beyond de’ Medici’s and Lorena’s conception of government. The analysis is articulated in five sections: the second section emphasizes the design of the study while articulating a literature review. The third section defines some methodological and method aspects, including the period of interest. The forth section depicts the historical birth of Terra del Sole (the Land of Sun) that became the chief town of the Municipality of Castrocaro and Terra del Sole and of the whole Romagna-Tuscany Province. The fifth and six sections show the results from the analysis of primary sources about organizational issues and accounting implications. The seventh section indicates the concluding remarks and stresses the possible contribution of the present work.