Editing Economy of Italy (section)

===Currency===
{{main|History of coins in Italy}}
[[File:100 lire Repubblica Italiana 1956.jpg|thumb|right|100&nbsp;lire coin, 1956, with goddess [[Minerva]] holding an olive tree and a long spear depicted on the reverse]]

[[History of coins in Italy|Italy has a long history of different coinage types]], which spans thousands of years. Italy has been influential at a coinage point of view: the medieval [[Florin (Italian coin)|Florentine florin]], one of the most used coinage types in European history and one of the most important coins in Western history,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ilgiornaledellanumismatica.it/dossier-speciale-il-fiorino-di-firenze-breve-storia-del-dollaro-del-medioevo/|title=IL FIORINO DI FIRENZE, STORIA DEL "DOLLARO DEL MEDIOEVO"|date=19 January 2017|access-date=4 October 2023|language=it|archive-date=5 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231005095053/http://www.ilgiornaledellanumismatica.it/dossier-speciale-il-fiorino-di-firenze-breve-storia-del-dollaro-del-medioevo/|url-status=live}}</ref> was struck in [[Florence]] in the [[13th century]], while the [[Sequin (coin)|Venetian sequin]], minted from 1284 to 1797, was the most prestigious gold coin in circulation in the commercial centers of the [[Mediterranean Sea]].<ref>{{Cite book|author=Nicolò Papadopoli Aldobrandini|title=Le monete di Venezia descritte ed illustrate da Nicolò Papadopoli Aldobrandini|year=2009|publisher="Progetto Gutenberg Piero Vianelli|page=136|language=it}}</ref> 

Despite the fact that the first Italian coinage systems were used in the [[Magna Graecia]] and [[Etruscan civilization]], the [[Roman people|Romans]] introduced [[Roman currency|a widespread currency]] throughout Italy. Unlike most modern coins, Roman coins had intrinsic value.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.homolaicus.com/storia/antica/roma/monete.htm|title=IL VALORE DELLE MONETE ROMANE|access-date=4 October 2023|language=it|archive-date=10 June 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230610112256/http://www.homolaicus.com/storia/antica/roma/monete.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>  The early modern Italian coins were very similar in style to French francs, especially in decimals, since it was ruled by the country in the [[Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy]]. They corresponded to a value of 0.29 grams of gold or 4.5&nbsp;grams of silver.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ilmarengo.com/italia/welcome.htm|title=Italian coins|website=ilmarengo.com|access-date=14 April 2018|archive-date=8 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170808023109/http://www.ilmarengo.com/italia/welcome.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

Since Italy has been for centuries divided into many [[List of historic states of Italy|historic states]], they all had different coinage systems, but when the country became [[Italian unification|unified]] in 1861, the [[Italian lira]] came into place, and was used until 2002. The term originates from ''libra'', the largest unit of the [[Carolingian monetary system]] used in Western Europe and elsewhere from the 8th to the 20th century.<ref>The last country to abandon the Carolingian system was [[Nigeria]] in 1973, when the [[Nigerian pound|pound]] was replaced by the [[Nigerian naira|naira]].</ref> In 1999, the [[euro]] became Italy's [[unit of account]] and the lira became a national subunit of the euro at a rate of 1&nbsp;euro = 1,936.27&nbsp;lire, before being replaced as cash in 2002.