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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;giorgio11, post: 763744, member: 17094&quot;]Florence is <i>Firenze </i>in Italian, and the coat of arms of the city is a stylized lily, what we call a <i>fleur de lys </i>or <i>fleur de lis.</i> (<i>Fleur</i> in French means &quot;flower&quot; and<i> lys/lis</i> means &quot;lily.&quot;) The fleur de lys is associated both with French royalty and Florence. The word <i>fiorino </i>literally means &quot;little flower&quot; in Italian, from <i>fior </i>&quot;flower&quot; + ino, a diminutive ending. (One of the characters in Mozart&#039;s opera Cosí Fan Tutte&quot; is named Fiordiligi, Italian for <i>fleur de lys.</i>)</p><p><br /></p><p>I don&#039;t know if the relation between the flower symbol and the denomination named fiorino is a direct one, but linguisticallly it appears to be quite similar to why we call our $10 gold pieces eagles ... after the reverse design, a <i>fior</i>, <i>fiorino, </i>or <i>fiordiligi.</i>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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