The national currency of Italy

What is the currency in Italy? To answer this question is quite simple, because the country belongs to the European Union, accordingly, the Italians use the euro. But it was not always so. What is the national currency of Italy? About this talk in more detail.

The official currency of Italy

The official currency of the country is the euro. However, this is not surprising, because Italy belongs to the European Union. The changes occurred in January 2002. Italy, like all other countries of the Eurozone, prints its own currency. From the rest it differs only in serial number. The Italic euro should have the letter S. Thus, the currency of Italy has its own peculiarities in comparison with other EU countries.

Features of the "Italian" euros

What does the currency of Italy look like? Paper bills differ from the euro in other countries only with their serial number. In all other respects, they look the same as in the whole of the European Union. Denominations have a face value of 5 to 500 euros, and coins - from 5 to 50 euro cents, as well as 1 and 2 euros.

If we talk about coins, then their front side does not differ from those used in other countries of the Eurozone. However, the reverse side of the original design, which can boast only the currency of Italy. On the reverse side there are images of the Colosseum, a fragment of the famous painting by the Italian artist Botticelli "Birth of Venus", "Harmonious Man" by Leonardo da Vinci.

The emergence of the Italian lira

Until the time when the country had a new currency - the euro, there was another currency in Italy. Lyra first appeared in the distant 780 as a result of the reform of Charlemagne. Then the currency of the country were Roman coins - gold solidas, which were replaced by Karolin denarii, for the manufacture of which silver was used. But what does the lyre have to do with it? It was introduced as a counting unit along with a solid and equaled 240 denarii, 20 solidas. It is important to clarify that the lyre was only a concept, not a real coin. The word itself came from the Latin word pound (410 grams).

Lira united Italy

The history of the lyre as a real currency began already in the XIX century (1861), when Italy was merged. The country's currency has experienced many bad times. It several times depreciated, most often in the troubled times of world wars.

One lira equaled 100 centasimos, however, they practically did not make money of such denominations. The Second World War was the reason that another lyre fell. Due to hyperinflation, banknotes whose denomination was less than 1000 liras were no longer used. Very soon, the minimum note was a 2000 Lira note. In addition, a currency was made, the maximum denomination of which was 100,000 liras. But not only they were the reason for the fall in the exchange rate or the termination of the exchange of this currency for gold. In 1986, the country's authorities held a denomination. At that time the rate was 1000 old lira for 1 new.

As already mentioned, the euro came into the country in 2002. But still for a whole year, both currencies were used simultaneously. But even after the lira completely ceased to exist as the national currency of the country, it could be exchanged in any state bank. This situation continued for the next ten years (until 2013). All this time the rate was fixed and amounted to 1936.27 lire for 1 euro.

Features of the Italian lira

What did the old currency of Italy look like ? In 1861, the authorities decided to recognize the lira as a single national currency. At the same time it was minted from metals such as gold (10 and 20 lire) and silver (1, 2, 5 lira). At the same time, they started minting exchangeable coins - centsimo. For this, metals such as copper and silver were used. But a year later the authorities changed their original decision. The lira was supposed to be made exclusively of gold. At the same time, the manufacture of cantyzimo continued, but for this, non-noble metals, copper and nickel alloys, were used.

After the First World War, the situation changed again. Lira of small denominations was decided to be minted from nickel, and after another twenty years stainless steel was used for this. After 1945, coins were minted in denominations of 1 to 1,000 lire. Centhisimo at this time was no longer used, because they did not have value because of strong inflation. However, they were practically not used in trade. Such coins were of value only for numismatists and collectors.

As for banknotes, their appearance was typical for Italy. On the back of each of them was depicted one of the heroes of Italy.

What does a tourist need to know?

Going to travel to the country, it is best to take with you the euro or bank checks. Also in most establishments you can use credit cards. Exchange in Italy, Russian rubles will be very problematic. By the way, to some extent this can be said about American dollars. Naturally, the exchange points where dollars are accepted are much larger than those where rubles can be exchanged, but American money is accepted with great reluctance.

You can exchange money in any of the banks of the country, the only drawback is that they work only up to 16 hours. The country has a large number of exchange offices, including at the airport and in hotels, but the exchange rate is often unprofitable. In addition, you will have to pay for the exchange service itself. Most often it is a certain percentage of the amount that you are going to exchange.

It should be remembered that in exchange offices located at railway stations or airports, this percentage can reach 10. Some exchangers offer to pay a fixed amount. If you have to exchange a fairly large amount, it can be more profitable. It is also important to know that in Italy there are restrictions on the amount of the amount you want to exchange. The maximum value is 500 dollars.

In Italy it is very common to pay by credit cards. You can find out by using special announcements posted by the owners at their institutions. In addition, there are ATMs that work with foreign currency. But you need to know that the percentage of commission in this case will be quite high. Italians prefer to work with credit cards for several reasons.

First, residents consider this method of payment to be more simple and practical. And secondly, it is forbidden to pay cash in the country if the purchase amount exceeds 12,000 euros. For this, you can be held criminally liable. Therefore, any amount that exceeds the above should be held by check or directly through the bank.

Instead of concluding

Now you know the answer to the question of what is the national currency in Italy. If you still doubt that it has the greatest value, then this is undoubtedly the euro. Therefore, in order to avoid unnecessary problems, it is better to bring this currency into the country.