100 Lire Banca Popolare di Novara

In the mid-1970s, a severe coin shortage across northern Italy prompted dozens of regional cooperative banks to issue small-denomination fiduciary notes — technically a stopgap measure tolerated rather than formally authorized by the Banca d'Italia. The Banca Popolare di Novara was among the more active participants, producing notes through Turati Lombardi, a Milan security printer with deep roots in Italian commercial and fiscal printing.

MICR encoding on a note of this size and denomination is worth noting — it signals these were designed to move through automated clearing systems, not just serve as pocket change substitutes. The coin crisis was a banking infrastructure problem, and the solution was engineered accordingly.