The lira was the currency of the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct Sovereignty, sovereign rule of ...

between 1866 and 1870.

History

In 1866 Pope Pius IX, whose temporal domain had been reduced to only the province of

Latium Latium ( , ; ) is the region of central western Italy in which the city of Rome was founded and grew to be the capital city of the Roman Empire. Definition Latium was originally a small triangle of fertile, volcanic soil ( Old Latium) on ...

, decided to join the Latin Monetary Union. A new currency, the lira, was introduced with the same value of the French franc and the

Italian lira The lira (; plural lire) was the currency of Italy between 1861 and 2002. It was first introduced by the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy in 1807 at par with the French franc, and was subsequently adopted by the different states that would eventually ...

. It replaced the scudo at a rate of 5.375lire = 1scudo : the rate was calculated thanks to the silver value of the old scudo (26.9

gram The gram (originally gramme; SI unit symbol g) is a unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI) equal to one one thousandth of a kilogram. Originally defined as of 1795 as "the absolute weight of a volume of pure water equal to ...

s of 0.900 fine silver) and the new lira (5

s of 0.900 fine silver). However, some time after joining the Union, the Pope's treasurer, Giacomo Antonelli, devalued the purity of the Papal silver coins from 900/1000 to 835/1000, (cited in (first degree thesis)) causing big problems for the Union, which later was forced to adopt the new standard. With the annexation of the Papal States to Italy in 1870, the Papal lira was replaced by the

at par. The lira was subdivided into 100 centesimi and, differently from the other currencies of the union, into 20 soldi. However, all denomination in soldo had an equivalence in cents.

Coins

Copper coins were issued in denominations of c.1, s., (c.), s.1 (c.5), s.2 (c.10) and s.4 (c.20), with silver s.5 (c.25) and s.10 (c.50), 1, 2, and 5 lire, and gold 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 lire.

References

External links

Franc Modern obsolete currencies Lira Currencies of Italy Currencies of Vatican City 1866 establishments in the Papal States 1870 disestablishments in the Papal States 19th-century economic history {{Italy-hist-stub

History

Coins

See also

References

External links