Un equilibrio introvabile: fisco camerale e comunità nello Stato pontificio a metà Seicento

Based on budgets and reports sent to the Roman congregation of Buongoverno by local authorities this paper charts the financial troubles affecting the most part of the communities of the Papal States at mid-XVII century. The reports highlight Popes’ growing ability to increase fiscal pressure and to keep a careful watch on local finances. Yet, paradoxically, greater centralization and state control are linked not to greater financial integration but to communities’ financial troubles, marked by rising deficits, debts and internal tensions. Local debt explosion, fiscal resistance of «privileged» groups within communities, and social strife are ominous signs of the fiscal gridlock that was about to grip the Papal States in the late early modern period.