History of coins in Italy: Difference between revisions

Italy has a long history of different coinage types, which spans thousands of years. Italy has been influential at a coinage point of view: the florin, one of the most used coinage types in European history, was struck in Florence in the 13th century. Since Italy has been for centuries divided into many city-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.^[1] Today, Italy uses the euro.

History[edit]

Magna Graecia, Etruscan civilization and Ancient Rome[edit]

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. Unlike most modern coins, Roman coins had intrinsic value.

While they contained precious metals, the value of a coin was higher than its precious metal content, so they were not bullion. Estimates of their value range from 1.6 to 2.85 times their metal content, thought to equal the purchasing power of 10 modern British Pound Sterling (US$15) at the beginning of the Roman Empire to around 18 Pound Sterling (US$29) by its end (comparing bread, wine and meat prices) and, over the same period, around one to three days’ pay for a Legionnaire.^[2]

Roman currency for most of Roman history consisted of gold, silver, bronze, orichalcum and copper coinage.^[3] From its introduction during the Republic, in the third century BC, through Imperial times, Roman currency saw many changes in form, denomination, and composition. A persistent feature was the inflationary debasement and replacement of coins over the centuries. Notable examples of this followed the reforms of Diocletian. This trend continued with Byzantine currency.

Due to the economic power and longevity of the Roman state, Roman currency was widely used throughout western Eurasia and northern Africa from classical times into the Middle Ages. It served as a model for the currencies of the Muslim caliphates and the European states during the Middle Ages and the Modern Era. Roman currency names survive today in many countries via the Carolingian monetary system, such as the Arabic dinar (from the denarius coin), the British pound, the peso (both translations of the Roman libra, a unit of weight), and Portuguese dinheiro (money).

Middle Ages and Renaissance[edit]

Florentine florin[edit]

The florin was struck from 1252 to 1523 with no significant change in its design or metal content standard. It had 54 grains of gold (3.5g). The “fiorino d’oro” of the Republic of Florence was the first European gold coin struck in sufficient quantities to play a significant commercial role since the seventh century. As many Florentine banks were international supercompanies with branches across Europe, the florin quickly became the dominant trade coin of Europe for large scale transactions, replacing silver bars in multiples of the mark (a weight unit equal to eight troy ounces).

In the 14th century, one hundred and fifty European states and local coin issuing authorities made their own copies of the florin. The most important of these was the Hungarian forint because the Kingdom of Hungary was a major source of gold mined in Europe (until the New World began to contribute to the supply in the 16th and 17th centuries, most of the gold used in Europe came from Africa).

Venetian sequin[edit]

The sequin (Venetian and Italian: zecchino [dzekˈkiːno]) is a gold coin minted by the Republic of Venice from the 13th century onwards. The design of the Venetian sequin remained unchanged for over 500 years, from its introduction in 1284 to the takeover of Venice by Napoleon in 1797. No other coin design has ever been produced over such a long historical period. The reverse bears a motto in Latin hexameter: Sit tibi, Christe, datus // quem tū regis, iste ducātus (“Christ, let this duchy that you rule be given to you”).

Initially called “ducat” (ducato), for the ruling Doge of Venice who was prominently depicted on it, it was called the zecchino, after the Zecca (mint) of Venice, since 1543 when Venice began minting a silver coin also called a ducat.

Genoese lira[edit]

The Genoese lira (Italian: Lira genovese) was the currency of the Republic of Genoa until 1797. The mint in the Republic of Genoa began its production around 1138,^[4] with coins introduced in line with similar versions issued in the rest of Europe, as follows:

• The silver denaro in 1138, containing 1.06 grams of 1⁄3 fine silver (or 84.8 g fine silver in a lira);
• The silver grosso in 1172 worth 4 denari, of 1.4 g of 23⁄24 fine silver (or 80.5 g fine silver in a lira);
• The gold Genovino d’oro in 1252, at about the same time as the…