The baiocco is an ancient

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

currency denomination largely used in

Central Italy Central Italy ( it, Italia centrale or just ) is one of the five official statistical regions of Italy used by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), a first-level NUTS region, and a European Parliament constituency. Regions Central I ...

, especially in

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 w ...

. The origin of the name is uncertain. Its value was originally equivalent to a shilling, slowly changing through centuries into five quattrini, or consequently twenty

pennies A penny is a coin ( pennies) or a unit of currency (pl. pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. Presently, it is t ...

. The size, weight and value of the coin itself changed over time. At a certain point, towards the middle of the 16th Century, it became so thin that it deserved the nickname "Baiocchino" or "Baiocchétto" because it actually weighed less than 0.25g. It underwent numerous other variations of material losing more and more silver and becoming more and more low alloy, so much so that it was indicated with the derogatory "''Baiocchella''" during the period of ''Sixtus V'' from 1585 to 1590. It disappeared after the unification of

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

between 1861 and 1870, when 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 ...

was introduced as an equivalent of the

french franc The franc (, ; sign: F or Fr), also commonly distinguished as the (FF), was a currency of France. Between 1360 and 1641, it was the name of coins worth 1 livre tournois and it remained in common parlance as a term for this amount of money. It w ...

. File:Baiocco 1795.jpg File:3 baiocchi.jpg

References

{{commons cat, Baiocco Currencies of Italy Coins of Italy

See also

References