100 Lire Allied Military Currency

Allied Military Currency for Italy was authorized under the Allied Military Financial Agency and produced ahead of the Sicily landings in July 1943. The Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company in Boston produced these notes under contract, working alongside other US printers who supplied the broader AMC program. The 100 Lire denomination was among the higher values in the series and circulated alongside genuine Banca d'Italia notes at a fixed rate — 100 lire to the dollar, a rate the Italian public considered grossly unfair and which fueled black market activity almost immediately.

Italian authorities and economists complained bitterly that the rate allowed Allied troops to buy up local goods and property at artificially depressed prices. The lira's real purchasing power was far lower, and inflation followed quickly.