In southern Italy, the ''oncia'' (plural ''oncie'' or ''once'') or ''onza'' (pl. ''onze'') was a

unit of account In economics, unit of account is one of the functions of money. A unit of account is a standard numerical monetary unit of measurement of the market value of goods, services, and other transactions. Also known as a "measure" or "standard" of ...

during the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

and later a

gold coin A gold coin is a coin that is made mostly or entirely of gold. Most gold coins minted since 1800 are 90–92% gold (22fineness#Karat, karat), while most of today's gold bullion coins are pure gold, such as the Britannia (coin), Britannia, Canad ...

minted between 1732 and 1860. It was also minted in the southern Italian territories of the

Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy (political entity), Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered ...

, and a silver coin of the same value was minted by the

Knights of Malta The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta, and commonly known as the Order of Malta or the Knights of Malta, is a Catholic Church, Cathol ...

. The name is derived from the ancient Roman '' uncia''. It may sometimes be translated ounce. In the medieval kingdoms of

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

and

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

, one ''oncia'' was equivalent to 30 ''

tarì Tarì (from Arabic language, Arabic طري ''ṭarī'', lit. "fresh" or "newly minted money")Cardini, p. 26 was the Christians, Christian designation of a type of gold coin of Islamic origin minted in Sicily, Malta and Southern Italy from about ...

'', 600 ''grani'' and 3600 ''denari'' (pennies). Conventionally, a sum of money is indicated by numbers of ''oncie'', ''tarì'', ''grani'' and ''denari'' separated by full stops, thus 2.2.15.1 indicates 2 ''oncie'', two ''tarì'', 15 ''grani'' and 1 ''denaro''. Although the ''oncia'' was never minted in the Middle Ages, it was the basic unit of account. The lesser denominations were minted, as was the

ducat The ducat ( ) coin was used as a trade coin in Europe from the later Middle Ages to the 19th century. Its most familiar version, the gold ducat or sequin containing around of 98.6% fine gold, originated in Venice in 1284 and gained wide inter ...

(six of which equalled an ''oncia'') and the '' carlino'' (60 to the ''oncia'').Eleni Sakellariou, ''Southern Italy in the Late Middle Ages: Demographic, Institutional and Economic Change in the Kingdom of Naples, c.1440–c.1530'' (Brill, 2012), p. 492. Frederick II introduced the ''

augustalis An augustalis or augustale, also agostaro, was a gold coin minted in the Kingdom of Sicily beginning in 1229 or in 1231 according to others. History It was issued by Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (from 1220 ...

'', which was a quarter of an ''oncia''.Donald Matthew, ''The Norman Kingdom of Sicily'' (Cambridge University Press, 1992), p. xi.

Notes

{{Historic Italian currency and coinage Gold coins Medieval currencies Obsolete Italian currencies Kingdom of Sicily History of the Kingdom of Naples

See also

Notes