Historical Sketch

The Duchy of Milan and the Republic of Venice came under rule of Napoleonic France in the late 18th century. A suite of revolutionary republics was founded until finally in 1805, the (Napoleonic) Kingdom of Italy got constituted with Napoleon himself as ruler. At the 1815 Congress of Vienna, the pre-Napoleonic order was not restored. Instead, the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venice was created in personal union with Habsburg Austria. In 1859, Austria was defeated by the Italian revolutionary forces, and Lombardy was annexed to neighboring Sardinia (Piedmont) in 1859 and integrated into the Kingdom of Italy two years later. Venice remained under Austrian rule for some more years. After another military defeat in late 1866, it also joined Italy.

Monetary History Overview

Before the Napoleonic conquest, the Duchy of Milan and the Republic of Venice had distinct units of account, called Lira each. The circulating medium was based on Thaler-sized silver coins, Milan's "Scudo" and Venice's "Ducato". Venice, on the other hand, was oriented towards long-distance trade, for which the golden Ducat or "Zecchino" was the base of exchange, which even acquired the status of an international trade coin in gold.

The French conquest brought the abolition of the traditional accounting. The coinage law of 1806 created the (Napoleonic) Italian Lira in the French bimetallic standard. Specie coins in gold and silver were produced in large amount and saw a wide circulation also in neighboring territories, and ultimately laid the base for the currency of unified Italy of 1861. The 1815 Kingdom of Lombardy-Venice kept the French monetary standard for another eight years. The coinage act of 1823 aligned with the Austria monetary system by introducing the Lombardo-Venetian Lira at a sixth of the Austrian (Convention) Thaler. However, Lombardy-Venice did not switch to the silver standard but kept bimetallism with circulating gold coins. In 1857, Austria reformed its coinage after joining the Vienna Coinage Union (Münzverein) with Germany. This brought a unification of the currencies in the Habsburg lands, and the distinct currency for Lombardy-Venice was replaced by the Austrian Guilder until October 1858. Less than a year later Lombardy got annexed by Sardinia, and in 1866, also Venice was lost to Austria. The Austrian currency was demonetized in July 1861 and December 1867, respectively.

Currency Units Timeline

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Monetary History Sources