Italian lira replaces Lombardy-Venetia pound
Introduction of the lira
The Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy first introduced the Italian lira in 1807 at par with the French franc, worth 4.5 grams of fine silver or 0.29032 gram of fine gold (gold-silver ratio 15.5). Despite the kingdom's demise in 1814, this new lira would eventually replace the currencies of the different Italian states until their unification in 1861, replacing, among others:The Piedmontese scudo, Sardinian scudo and the Genoese lira after 1800, by the Italian lira;
The Milanese lira, Venetian lira, Lombardo-Venetian lira and Parman lira after 1814, at the rate of 270 Milanese lire = 45 Milanese scudi = 405 Venetian lire = 855 Parman lire = 207.23 Italian lire;
The Tuscan fiorino and the Tuscan lira in 1859, at 1 francescone = 4 fiorini = 6+2⁄3 Tuscan lire = 5.6 Italian lire;
The piastra of Naples and Sicily in 1861, at 1 piastra = 1.2 ducat di regno = 5.1 Neapolitan lire, the latter at par with the Italian lira; and
The scudo of Rome and the Papal States in 1866, at 1 scudo = 5.375 Papal lire, the latter at par with the Italian lira.In 1865, Italy formed part of the Latin Monetary Union in which the lira was set as equal to, among others, the French, Belgian and Swiss francs. The U.S. dollar was worth approximately 5.18 Italian lire until 1914.