Historical Sketch

The Duchy of Savoy was founded in the early 15th century. After the War of the Spanish Succession, Savoy obtained the island of Sicily in 1713, just to swap it against Sardinia a few years later, thus creating the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1720. Napoleonic France conquered the mainland part Piedmont in 1800, together with the neighboring Republic of Genoa, while the island of Sardinia remained under Savoy rule. Piedmont and Genoa were annexed to France two years later. The 1815 Congress of Vienna restored the Kingdom of Sardinia, now including the formerly independent Genoa. In the mid-1850s, Sardinia became the driver of the Italian unification. In 1859, the revolutionary forces began conquering the different states, from Naples-Sicily in the south to the Austrian territories in the north. The process culminated when the House of Savoy took the throne of the newly founded Kingdom of Italy in 1861.

Monetary History Overview

The monetary situation of the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1720 differred between mainland Piedmont and the island part. In 1755, a coinage reform was passed for Piedmont, in 1773 the same was done for Sardinia. The gold-to-silver ratio was raised to about 15½ in 1786, almost identical to the value that emerged from revolutionary France a few years later, but the two coinage areas remained apart for until the mid-19th century. The French occupation and annexation of Piedmont and Genoa triggered the end of the traditional coinage and the adoption of the French Franc in the early 19th century. The mints of Turin and Genoa were now producing French coins. The restored Kingdom of Sardinia did not revert to pre-Napoleonic monetary system. A coinage order in 1816 provided for the first gold and silver coins denominated in Sardinian Lira, but the currency standard remained simply the one France defined in 1803. In fact only in 1827, the currency was formally introduced in Piedmont and Liguria. The pre-Napoleonic coins remained tolerated at fixed rating. On the island of Sardinia, the nominal changeover was done in 1843. The transition proved difficult as French accounting had never taken roots here before. In 1851, the National Bank in the Sardinian States, which had been created as a merger of a couple of commercial bank a few years before, began issuing paper money. It did not see much acceptance outside the centres and remained secondary to the circulating specie.

Sardinia was the driving force behind the Italian unification of 1861. All the conquered and liberated territories took over the Sardinian accounting. After the foundation of the Kingdom of Italy, the Sardinian became the Italian Lira and the Sardinian National Bank evolved into the Bank of Italy.

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