Cereals, politics and accounting. The Bergamo Municipality case (XVI-XVII centuries)

The cereals’ provisioning of towns has always represented a constant preoccupation for rulers and accounting has played a fundamental role in the achievement of the related political aims. In this scenario, the paper explores the case of Bergamo, during the period of the Venetian domination, considering the XVI-XVII centuries. The control on cereals, exercised by a specific body (Cereals Board), is explored adopting the Foucaldian “governmentality”. In the light of this framework, the contribution unveils how accounting operated in its role of technology of government offering the Municipality a macro and micro-knowledge for reshaping actions (Lemke, 2001).