The first episode of Vox Mercatoria, the new podcast of the ERC project MICOLL is now available online.
You can watch the launch reel here: Instagram Reel.
Debt and credit are words we encounter constantly: in contracts and balance sheets, but also in everyday language. We can have a financial debt or a moral debt; we can “give credit” to someone without lending them money. But where do these words come from? How have their meanings changed over time? And what can they tell us about the development of the language of commerce?
These questions are at the heart of the first episode, hosted by Stefania Gialdroni, Principal Investigator of MICOLL and Professor of Legal History at the University of Padua, together with Nicoletta Maraschio, Honorary Professor of History of the Italian Language at the University of Florence and Honorary President of the Accademia della Crusca, and Francesca Fusco, Associate Professor of Italian Linguistics at Pegaso University and former MICOLL researcher.
The conversation explores the history of the words debt and credit, the original connection between credit and trust, and the emergence of the language of accounting. It also discusses debit and credit, double-entry bookkeeping, and Luca Pacioli, whose Summa de arithmetica, published in Venice in 1494, played an important role in the circulation and gradual standardisation of a technical vocabulary that would spread far beyond Italy.
One word to explore the world of merchants
Vox Mercatoria grows out of one of the central questions of MICOLL: what can we learn about the history of commercial law by following not only rules and institutions, but also the words used by merchants, lawyers and trading communities?
Each episode therefore begins with a word that opens a window onto the history of commerce, law and mercantile cultures. Rather than an academic lecture, Vox Mercatoria is conceived as a conversation between scholars from different disciplines, accessible also to non-specialist audiences. The guests change from episode to episode, bringing different disciplinary perspectives to the conversation, while Stefania Gialdroni, Principal Investigator of MICOLL, remains the host throughout the series.
After Debt and Credit, the series will continue (each Wednesday, staring from the 19th of August 2026) with:
- Episode 2 – Bankruptcy, with Matthias Heinz and David De Concilio: where do words such as fallimento, bancarottaand Bankrott come from, and do they really describe the same phenomenon? The episode follows the linguistic and legal history of business failure, from the stigma attached to the insolvent merchant to the gradual distinction between misfortune, fault and fraud.
- Episode 3 – Friendship and Trust, with Fabio Masi, Alessio Casarin and Corrado Tatangelo: can commerce – or any collective enterprise – exist without trust? Starting from the experience of making the MICOLL film Le vie dell’acqua, the conversation moves between historical mercantile relationships and the bonds of trust, collaboration and friendship that make a creative project possible.
- Episode 4 – Justice, with Georges Martyn, Valeria Paruzzo and Bettina Pfotenhauer: for once, Vox Mercatoria does not begin with a word, but with an image, that of Lady Justice. The episode explores how commercial justice was represented in medieval and early modern Europe, and what courtrooms, paintings, symbols and visual programmes can tell us about merchants, authority and the administration of justice. This is the only episode of the series recorded in English.
- Episode 5 – Profit, with Annamaria Monti, Matteo Moro and Davide Basaldella: is profit simply an economic concept, or also a legal and moral one? The conversation explores changing attitudes towards commercial gain, the relationship between profit and usury, and the long history of attempts to distinguish legitimate earnings from unlawful enrichment.
- Episode 6 – Capital, with Luisa Brunori and Ana Belem Fernández Castro: what exactly is capital, and when did the word acquire its economic and legal meanings? From early commercial partnerships to transatlantic companies, the episode investigates the relationship between capital, property, investment and company organisation, including the often overlooked role of women as investors.
- Episode 7 – Risk and Fortune, with Maria Fusaro, Jake Dyble and Valeria Paruzzo: commerce has always involved uncertainty. How did merchants understand and manage risk before modern statistics and actuarial science? From maritime trade and general average to insurance, gambling and the Zong case, the episode explores the shifting boundary between fortune, calculation and danger.
The MICOLL team would like to thank the Historical Library of the Island of San Servolo (Venice) for its generous hospitality. Recording Vox Mercatoriain this remarkable setting gave us the opportunity to develop the entire series in an exceptional location, surrounded by the history and atmosphere of the Venetian lagoon.
Vox Mercatoria was produced by Growing Production Srl.
Where to listen and watch
Vox Mercatoria is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and YouTube.
On YouTube and Spotify, the podcast is also available in video format. On YouTube, the episodes include English subtitles prepared by the MICOLL team, making the series accessible to an international audience as well.
The first episode, “Debt and Credit”, is available now.
Enjoy listening – and watching!
