Biccherna

The Biccherna was the magistrate or chancellery of finance from the 12th century to 1786 for the Republic (later city) of Siena in Tuscany, Italy. thumb|Finances of the City in Time of Peace and War (1468) by Benvenuto di Giovanni,

The records of the office are significant not only because Siena was one of the earliest and most important banking centers of medieval Europe, but also because the books that contain these records were bound with painted leather covers, often made by major artists. These covers tend to display secular subject matter that glorifies the city's government and its citizens.