“libertas” (freedom) and “no theft, no trick, no falsification”

OLD LUCCA messages from the past

Reading about old banking practices and credit crunches… of course I ended up in Lucca where modern banking began. Lucca is an old small town in the country side in Tuscany and the alleged motherland of my family. Two things stroke me as familiar, as if they were tatooed below my skin since forever:

  • the ancient motto of Lucca, written everywhere on the walls in those times, “libertas” or “freedom” in latin;
  • the words that had to be sworn by, to practice merchant banking “no theft, no trick, no falsification”.

The foundation of credit is reputation. Also in those time it was understood that without trust there is no credit… And without credit there is no real economy…
I think it is quite remarkable…