Third: There was the _Opera_ or Office of Administration, which formed the link between the guild and its patrons. The Freemasons evidently adapted their nomenclature to the dialect of the part they were in. In Tuscany the word for this office was _Opera_ (or Works). There was the Opera di S. Jacopo at Pistoja as early as 1100; and the Opera del Duomo at Pisa, Siena, and Florence. In cities of the Lombard district, such as Modena, Parma, Padua, Milan, etc., the name is _Fabbriceria_. The members of this Ruling Council are generally four in number, and are called _Operai_ in Tuscany, and _Fabbricieri_ in Lombardy. These were elected periodically, two of them being influential citizens, who acted on the part of the patrons, and two from the Masters themselves. Where the lodge was very small there was only one _operaio_, as in Pistoja, when in 1250 Turrisianus was overseer (_superstans_) for a year. Later, when the Pistoja lodge was larger, there were two. At Milan there were more than four. Above these was the _Superiore_, a sort of president. If there were a reigning Prince, he was usually elected president. In the _Opera_, all commissions were given, and contracts signed between the city and the Masters, every contract being duly drawn up in legal manner by the notary of the _Opera_. Here orders were given for the purchase of materials, and estimates considered for the payment of either work or goods. The _Opera_ had to provide the funds for the whole expenses. Usually this was done in the first instance by appropriating to the work the receipts of one or more taxes. In course of time people left legacies, and the _Opera_ had a knack of growing very rich. Between the _Opera_ and the _laborerium_ was a responsible officer called the _Provveditore_. Judging from the entries in his private memorandum-book, his responsibilities must have been endless, and his occupations multitudinous. There was also a treasurer, a secretary, and two _Probiviri_, sometimes called _Buon uomini_, who acted as arbiters, for purposes of appeal and verification of accounts. The identical form of the lodges in the different cities is a strong argument that the same ruling body governed them all. An argument equally strong is the ubiquity of the members. We find the same man employed in one lodge after another, as work required. Unfortunately no documents exist of the early Lombard times, but the archives of the _Opere_, which in most cities have been faithfully kept since the thirteenth century, would, if thoroughly examined, prove to be valuable stores from which to draw a history of the Masonic Guild. We will now return to Pisa.