[2] The names of all guild members over thirty years old were put in eight leather bags called borse.
Every two months, these bags were taken from the church of Santa Croce, where they were ordinarily kept, and in a short ceremony drawn out at random.
Immediately after they were elected, the nine were expected to move into the Palazzo della Signoria, where they would remain for the two months of their office.
In undertaking their governmental duties, the Signoria was required to consult two other elected councils collectively known as Collegi.
The first was the Dodici Buonomini, with twelve members, while the second, the Sedici Gonfalonieri, consisted of sixteen people.