After ancient Rome's fall, it's once powerful domain disintegrated into a collection of independent cities and states. The country wasn't reunited again until 1861. King Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia was made the first king of a newly conceived nation, Italia (Italy). I got to thinking about this and my nind reacted to my pondering with a couple of wonderings: 1. Who were those independent cities and states? 2. Did they mint coins during their independencies? What were some of those coins? 3. What coins were first minted by the new country, Italy? Would you like to explore the answers of those questions with me? The cities and/or states issuing their own coinage are (alphabetical order) Gorizia, Kingdom of Napolean, Lombardy-Venezia, Naples, Parma, Roman Republic, Sardinia, Sicily, and Tuscany. More coins were issued by these entities, then will fit into the room we have to share so let's just select a few to see, okay? All the following photo links courtesy of Don's World Coin Gallery (world coingallery.com): Gorzia Coins: 1 Soldo 1733-1770 15 Soldi (8 1/2 Kreuzer Kingdom of Napolean Coins: 3 Centesimi 1807-1813 20 Lira Lombardy-Venetia Coins: 1/4 Lira 1822-1824 1/2 Lira 1822-1823: 1862 5/10 Soldi 1862 1 Soldo Naples Coins: 1825 10 Tornesi 10 Tornesi 1839-1851 Parma Coins: 5 Soldi 1815-1830 Roman Republic Coins: 1849 3 Baiocchi Sardinia Coins: 1826 5 Centisimi 5 Lira 1831-1849 Sicily Coins: 10 Grani 1801-1804 Tuscany Coins: 3 Quattrini 1826-1854 5 Quattrini 1826-1830 1859 2 Centesimi 50 Centesimi 1860-1861 That ends our viewing of some of the coins struck by the cities and states that came about by the fall of ancient Rome. Shall we take a look at the first coins of Italy? ITALY'S FIRST COINS: 1 Centesimo 1861-1867 2 Centesimo 1861-1867 50 Centesimos 1863-1867 1 Lira 1863-1867 (second issue 1863) 1 Lira 1863 2 Lira 5 Lira 1861-1878 I enjoyed our quest for the answers once perplexing to my ponderings, did you? Clinker
I would say you missed 1200 years of coinage. I own a coin minted in Rome under the Ostrogoths, probably the first "post Roman" coin minted in Italy, though people in Rome wouldn't have classified it that way. Also, there were a myriad of coins minted, Ostrogoths, Lombards, Byzantine, Holy Roman Empire, etc. Italy is a crossroads land, like Israel, that is constantly changing hands.
I agree. I have a silver penny of Genoa 1189-1339. The broad range is because as a republic, they continued to mint coins in the name of Conrad, a pretender to the Holy Roman Empire who never stepped foot in the city. (And you think our Republicans have a sense of humor...) Also, assembling examples from medieval Champagne, I passed on buying copies made in Rome at the time. Copies were not illegal counterfeits, just conveniences, and the Holy See used the most recognizable coin of the time. Much, much, much more... 1200 years worth, as Medoraman noted.
Don't think anybody expected a comprehensive list of coins issued between roughly 500 and 1861 to be posted here. Just add what you think is worth being added. Here for example is a famous and fairly early one - the fiorino d'oro issued by Florence between the 13th and the 16th century. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florin_(Italian_coin) Another important coin issuing country in what today is Italy was the Stato Pontificio (Papal State). What is also interesting that "Rome" - the city and the area - was initially (1861) not part of the unified kingdom; it became part of Italy about ten years later ... Christian
Hi medoraman: Skipped those earlier years because it would take too much time to list them and would not be a trivia article, but end up being a book... Clinker
Thanks for the nice article. I have these two coins minted during the period. One is dated 1859 from Tuscany. The other is dated 1867 from Italy. They both still have some red color.
I understand, and I appreciated your post. I was simply pointing out some of the other civilizations who made coins in modern day Italy in between ancient Rome and modern coinage. No offense meant. Chris
While not a popular opinion in Italy, I believe part of the problem is that 'Rome' the ancient culture and 'Rome' the city in Italy parted ways long before the period being discussed here. Even as early as the fourth century, there were several cities in the Empire at least as important as Rome. Emperors after the first century were more likely to come from other places and universal citizenship from the time of Caracalla made being from Italy no particular advantage. The straw that broke the camel's back was when Constantine moved the nominal capital to Constantinople but the Imperial court before that was as likely to be found elsewhere. This became especially true when the Empire was split into East and West with the Western Emperor as likely to be tending duties on some frontier or being just a puppet in Rome while the real power was in the hands of someone else (often a German). 'Rome' was not a city in central Italy but a culture that spread from Britain to Africa. The Holy Roman Empire and the modern country of Romania have roots in Ancient Roman culture just as did the assorted states that reformed into modern Italy. For coin collectors, it is fair to say that most Roman coins did most of their circulating outside Italy with, at least in the later centuries, most being made at mints outside modern Italy. 'Rome' as a culture belongs to the world or at least certainly to Europe. While we thank the brothers Romulus and Remus for starting it in Central Italy, what defined 'Rome' over the centuries developed into much more than what fit on the Seven Hills. Our ancestors from Germany, Britain, Spain, Turkey and Romania can be just as 'Roman' as are those still settled in the town of that name.
By that theory, most people in this world could claim that they somehow have ancestry almost all over the world. Not exactly helpful, I think - of course "Rome" or Italy nowadays is different from ancient "Rome" or the Roman Empire. But if we go back in time, so to say, from today's Italy, and look at coins that were used in that area 100, 500, 1000 (etc.) years ago, you get to a timeline pretty much like what Clinker started here ... Christian
That is exactly the point. We of the world all do have claim on the world. When one group decides to destroy something from antiquity because it belonged to the wrong religion, we all lose the item. The decision that one group hold all rights to history just because they currently occupy a particular region and persons who left that region lost all rights to their heritage is nothing short of racist. There are people who believe that no one in the US (save Native Americans) should be interested in anything before 1492 and they need not include such material in school curriculums or museum exhibits. There are those of us who disagree.
Bellissimi! Most beautifuls! (My wife's favorite Sorbet is "Ciao Bella" brand which she calls "Hello, Darling" and I call "So long, Beautiful.") We were raised to be Americans. Though born over there, one of my uncles fought in WWII in the American army. I never learned any Italian until I took a couple of community ed classes. The instructor said that when they do any construction in Florence and uncover antiquities, if the stones are Roman, they cover them up again -- old Etruscan prejudices. Via numismatics, collecting ancient Greek coins, I discovered that my Sicilian ancestors were in no way "Italian" but Cartheginians, most likely. No love lost there. About 400 BC Isocrates said that hellenism was so far extended that the name of "Hellene" no longer refered to a race but to a state of mind. About 300 BC, the common Greek dialect from India to Gaul was called "Koine" which we might understand as "union." Those who came to live in Alexandria in Egypt called themselves "Cosmopolitans" -- citizens of the world. I agree with Doug 100% on this.
