History of coins in Italy

[2] Despite the fact that the first Italian coinage systems were used in the Magna Graecia and Etruscan civilization, the Romans introduced a widespread currency throughout Italy.

[3] The early modern Italian coins were very similar in style to French francs, especially in decimals, since it was ruled by the country in the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy.

[4] Since Italy has been for centuries divided into many historic states, they all had different coinage systems, but when the country became unified in 1861, the Italian lira came into place, and was used until 2002.

Despite the fact that the first Italian coinage systems were used in the Magna Graecia and Etruscan civilization, the Romans introduced a widespread currency throughout Italy.

The brief period of Etruscan coinage, with the predominance of marks of value, seems to be an amalgam that reconciles two very different monetary systems: the 'primitive' bronze-weighing and aes grave economy[7] of central Italy with that of struck silver and gold issues of southern Italian Greek type not familiar in Etruria.

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the solidus continued to circulate for some time among the Franks; his name was kept and transformed into "sol" in French, then "sou".

The peoples settled in the Empire, Burgundians, Ostrogoths and Visigoths, also issued coins imitating the Roman system, including the solidus.

[16] It had 54 grains (3.499 grams, 0.113 troy ounce) of nominally pure or 'fine' gold[17] with a purchasing power difficult to estimate (and variable) but ranging according to social grouping and perspective from approximately 140 to 1,000 modern US dollars.

[19] The design of the original Florentine florins was the distinctive fleur-de-lis badge of the city on one side and on the other a standing and facing figure of St. John the Baptist[20] wearing a cilice.

The design of the Venetian sequin remained unchanged for over 500 years, from its introduction in 1284 to the fall of the Republic of Venice in 1797, making it the most prestigious gold coin in circulation in the commercial centers of the Mediterranean Sea.

[22] On the obverse there is Mark the Evangelist, patron saint of Venice, who is depicted with a beard and halo, is facing to the right and is wrapped in a large cloak while holding the Gospel with his left hand.

Even though coinage of the grosso might have begun a few years earlier, the influx of silver used to pay for the crusaders' ships led to its first large scale mintage.

[25] It was initially called a ducatus argenti since Venice was a duchy, but is more widely known as a grosso or matapano, a Muslim term referring to the seated figure on its reverse.

The various currency systems of Italy became of less importance to European trade after the Age of Discovery in the 16th century; nonetheless Venice continued to issue new coins.

Cogitetur de cunio monetae si posset reduci Urbs ad monetam papalem exclusa forensi etc.".

[36] The coin, also called "Grosso Agontano", was a great success and its type was imitated in other cities of Marche and also in Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, Lazio and Abruzzo.

The soldo was an Italian medieval silver coin, issued for the first time in the late 12th century at Milan by Emperor Henry VI.

[51] The early modern Italian coins were very similar in style to French francs, especially in decimals, since it was ruled by the country in the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy.

In addition, the states of Ancona, Civitavecchia, Clitunno, Foligno, Gubbio, Pergola and Perugia changed their coinage system to that of the Roman Republic.

It was subdivided into 100 centesimi (singular centesimo) and was equal in value to the French franc (4.5 grams of silver), which had previously been used as the currency of the Kingdom of Sardinia, having replaced the Piedmontese scudo by 1801.

In the late 18th century, this included issues from Ancona, Ascoli, Bologna, Civitavecchia, Fano, Fermo, Foligno, Gubbio, Macerata, Matelica, Montalto, Pergola, Perugia, Ronciglione, San Severino, Spoleto, Terni, Tivoli and Viterbo.

[71] During the revolutions of 1848, the Lombard Provisional Government briefly suspended the production of the lira and minted instead a special 5 Italian lire coin.

In 1866 Pope Pius IX, whose temporal domain had been reduced to only the province of Latium, decided to join the Latin Monetary Union.

[77] Since Italy has been for centuries divided into many historic states, they all had different coinage systems, but when the country became unified in 1861, the Italian lira came into place, and was used until 2002.

[5] The Carolingian system is the origin of the French livre tournois (predecessor of the franc), the Italian lira, and the pound unit of sterling and related currencies.

[87] To reconcile the various monetary systems it was decided to opt for bimetallism, taking inspiration from the French franc model, from which the dimensions of the coins and the exchange rate of 1 to 15.50 between gold and silver were taken.

In 1893, the Banca Romana was put into liquidation, hit by a serious scandal, and the Bank of Italy was created, with a gold backing of at least 40% of the lire in circulation.

[97] The increase in debt triggered by the oil crisis caused a strong devaluation compared to other European currencies and for its recovery the Bank of Italy raised the discount rate up to 15% in the autumn of 1976.

[102] However, the 1 euro coin was missing in this election, because Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, the then economy minister, had already decided it would sport the Vitruvian Man of Leonardo da Vinci.

[103] Leonardo's work is highly symbolic as it represents the Renaissance focus on man as the measure of all things, and has simultaneously a round shape that fits the coin perfectly.