Bartolomeo di Francesco’s lineage has largely been ignored by genealogists and historians and it is hard to place it correctly in the family’s genealogical tree.
Bartolomeo’ sons, Francesco, Piero and Lodovico wished to return to Florence, however, a right granted to them in 1392. In 1409 the three brothers with Lodovico’s son, Gabriello, were finally admitted to the Arte del Cambio (Guild of Bankers and Money-Changers) in Florence, presumably because by 1395 they had all been involved in running banks in Pisa and, from 1398, in Florence itself.
After Francesco’s death in 1409 the bank was re-established in the Mercato Nuovo in the city in the names of Lodovico and Piero Borromei, but it was short-lived as Lodovico died in 1415. At some time around 1404 Francesco di Bartolomeo moved to Genoa where he opened a bank in his own name. He was replaced in Pisa by his brother Piero di Bartolomeo and together Piero and Lodovico established a bank in Florence from 1406 onwards. There were still Borromei banks in Pisa in 1428-9 in the name of Antonio Borromei and partners; Gabriello di Lodovico and Antonio Corbinelli and partners; and Gabriello and Benedetto di Bartolomeo and partners.
However, by the fifteenth century, if not before, the descendants of ser Berardino and his nephew Filippo di Lazzaro saw that their fortunes lay either in Florence or one of the other great centres of the European banking world.
In 1420 Piero Borromei was Treasurer of Bologna, following a loan of 15,000 florins to Pope Martin V, and in the same year he was dealing with iron mines in Elba. The Florentine Catasto of 1427 shows Giuliano di Piero with assets of about 21,000 florins and Tommaso di Matteo [?] with less than 2,400. Banking activities in Florence continued in the names of Piero di Bartolomeo and Gabriello di Lodovico, then of Gabriello, followed by Gabriello and Benedetto di Lodovico and eventally, after 1425, of Antonio (?di Lodovico).
During these years there may have been yet another Borromei company there, in association with Antonio Corbinelli. Piero di Bartolomeo also became a partner in Galeazzo di Borromeo Borromei & co. of London, which had recently been established by the Venetian branch of the family.