Small coins of Italian states until 1861

 At the beginning of the 19th century, the united Kingdom of Lombardy and Venice was ruled by the Austrian Empire. A significant part of the central part of the Apennine Peninsula was occupied by the Papal Region. The largest territory was in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (Naples and Sicily), slightly smaller in the Kingdom of Sardinia. Significantly smaller territories were occupied by the Duchy of Tuscany, the Duchy of Modena and Reggio, the Duchy of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla, the Duchy of Massa and Carrara, the Duchy of Lucca. This is what the map of Italy looked like before the start of Risorgimento - the national liberation movement in Italy against the Austrian Empire, which ended in 1861 with the creation of the Italian Kingdom.

 

 

Coins of Italian states of the period "up to a single kingdom" are much less common than coins of German states of the same period. This is due, first of all, to the extremely small circulation of issued coins.

 

The kingdom was formed in 1816 after the merger of the Kingdom of Sicily and the Kingdom of Naples and occupied the southern half of the Apennine Peninsula and the island of Sicily. In 1861, under the onslaught of the revolutionary forces of Giuseppe Garribaldi, both Sicilies became part of the Italian Kingdom.

 

Coins from the reign of King Ferdinand II of Both Sicilies.

 

Coins of the reign of the King of Both Sicilies Francesco II.

The Kingdom of Sardinia (with its capital in Turin) was formed in 1720 . Before ceasing to exist in 1861, having become part of the newly formed Italian Kingdom, the Kingdom of Sardinia and Piedmont also included the duchies of Aosta and Montferrat, Savoy and Genoa, county of Nice. It was to the Sardinian Kingdom during Risorgimento that the rest of the states joined, and the last king of Sardinia, Victor Emmanuel II, became the first king of the Kingdom of Italy.

 

Coins from the reign of King Charles Emmanuel IV of Sardinia.

 

 

Coins from the reign of King Carlo Felici of Sardinia.

 

In 1802, the Italian Republic was formed with its capital in Milan, which was later renamed the Italian Kingdom (1808-1814) - a vassal state of France.

In 1815, following the results of the Vienna Congress, the Italian Kingdom was transformed into Lombardo-Venetian (after the name of the historical regions of Italy that were part of it). Then, the Kingdom became part of the Austrian Empire on the rights of crown lands.

 

In 1859, after the Austro-Italian-French war, Lombardy first moved to France, and then was transferred by it to the allied Sardinian Kingdom. In 1866, Venice became part of the Italian Kingdom following the Austro-Prussian War. All the time being part of the Austrian Empire, the kingdom was controlled by the Austrian viceroys.

 

Coins of the reign of Viceroy Lombardo-Venetian Kingdom Rainer Joseph Habsburg.

 

Legend "MONETA SPICCIOLA PEL R. LOMB. VENETO" is a special coin for the kingdom of Lombardy and Venice.

The Grand Duchy of Tuscany with its capital in Florence was formed in 1569. During the Napoleonic Wars in 1801, the Kingdom of Etruria was formed on its territory, which lasted until 1814. Statehood was restored in 1814 with the transfer of rule to Grand Duke Ferdinand III of Habsburg.

 

Coins of the reign of the Grand Duke of Tuscany Leopold II.

In 1859, the revolutions that swept central Italy led to the overthrow of the monarchs of the Duchies of Tuscany, Parma and Modena. The pro-Sardinian governments that came to power in these territories (as well as in Romagna, which belonged to the Papal States) formed a joint state, the United Provinces of Central Italy.

 

The second provisional government of Tuscany during this period issued for circulation a line of coins with the legends "VITTORIO EMANUELE RE ELETTO" (Victor Emmanuel elected Emperor) on the obverse and "GOVERNO DELLA TOSCANA" (Government of Tuscany) on the reverse.

The duchy was formed in 1545, when Pope Paul III endowed these lands with his illegitimate son Pierre Luigi Farnese. At the beginning of the 19th century, during the Napoleonic Wars, the duchy was transformed first into the Cisalpine Republic, then into the Italian Republic, and finally, in 1805, into the Kingdom of Italy. The historical name was returned to the Duchy in 1817 following the results of the Vienna Congress. At the same time, Maria Louise of Austria, the daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Franz II and the second wife of Napoleon Bonaparte, became the Duchess of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla.

 

Parma, Modena and Romagna in 1859 formed the Royal Provinces of Emilia (Emilia-Romana), by the way, also managed to issue their coins. In 1860, Tuscany and Emilia-Romana became part of the Sardinian Kingdom. Moreover, for the sake of this, the Sardinian Kingdom had to cede to France its provinces of Nice and Savoy.

Formed in the VIII century, the Papal State, with its capital in Rome, had a significant territory and had its own armed forces. In 1848, the outbreak of the revolution led to the creation of the Roman Republic, which was suppressed, not without the help of the French, in July 1849. The province of Romagna, which joined Sardinia (see above), marked the beginning of the inevitable destruction of the state. After the recall of the French garrison in 1870 from Rome for the Franco-Prussian War, the troops of the Italian Kingdom captured Rome and forced Pope Pius IX to move to the Vatican. Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and all Pontiffs until 1929 continued to consider themselves "prisoners." Only in 1929, with the conclusion of the "Lutheran Agreements" between the Holy See and the Italian Kingdom, the "Roman Question" on the legal status of the Papal State was resolved, the Vatican became a city-state.