Miniassegno

Before miniassegni appeared, widely used replacement for coins had been telephone tokens, candy or other small merchandise items, and - in some cities - public transport tickets.

The first miniassegni were issued on December 10, 1975, by Istituto Bancario San Paolo, with a face value of Lit.100, (about US$0.14 at 1983 exchange rates).

At their peak, there existed 835 different types of miniassegni, issued by 42 banks, for a total estimated value of more than Lit.200 billion.

Printing miniassegni was widely believed to be a boon for the issuers, which sold them to retailers, pressured by the dearth of small denomination coins.

The miniassegni disappeared at the end of 1978 when the Government Printing Office and Mint was finally able to overcome the lack of small change.