From 11 May to 26 October 2025, the Palazzo Pretorio Museum in Prato is hosting the exhibition entitled 'The historian and the merchant. Federigo Melis and Francesco Datini', curated by Angela Orlandi for the Fondazione F. Datini. This exhibition marks the 70th anniversary of the 1955 International exhibition of the Datini Archive, which then inspired Melis to found an international institute for economic studies.
The exhibition ranges over seven centuries of economic history by means of documents, artefacts, images and films, and explores the relationship between Melis, the scholar, and Datini, the merchant. Datini will also feature in the first of the Money Museum’s three itineraries.
As a member of the exhibition's scientific committee, MUDEM contributed by lending a number of third millennium bce Mesopotamian clay tablets from Banca d'Italia's collections, on display in the first section.
Browse the photo gallery to see some of the displays and go to the exhibition's web page to find out more.
The historian and the merchant. Federigo Melis and Francesco Datini
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01. Poster ‘The historian and the merchant. Federigo Melis and Francesco Datini' -
01a. Angela Orlandi, exhibition curator, scientific director of the Fondazione F. Datini and professor of Economic History at the University of Florence -
02. Documents from the State Archive in Prato, Datini Fund (Letter of exchange, endorsed, from 1410 – bottom; 14th century letter in Arabic transliterated into Hebrew script – top) -
03. The birth of Economic History, display at the Palazzo Pretorio Museum in Prato -
04. Storia della ragioneria (History of accounting) by F. Melis, display at the Palazzo Pretorio Museum in Prato -
05. Exhibits from the Galileo Museum in Florence, display at the Palazzo Pretorio Museum in Prato -
06. Mesopotamian clay tablets, third millennium BCE, on display in the first part of the exhibition (from Banca d’Italia’s collections) -
07. Contract for a loan in silver, Mesopotamian clay tablet, second millennium BCE (from Banca d’Italia's collections) -
08. Offering to the temple, Mesopotamian clay tablet, third millennium BCE (from Banca d’Italia’s collections) -
09. Chart of the network of firms set up by Francesco Datini, merchant and banker -
10. Science and money, display at the Palazzo Pretorio Museum in Prato -
11. The historian and the merchant’s matrimonial links -
12. The 1995 exhibition, inaugurated in the presence of the outgoing President of the Republic, Einaudi, and the incoming one, Gronchi, was the first exhibition dedicated to the archive of the merchant of Prato, Francesco Datini
