1000 Lire - Banco di Sicilia / Bank of Sicily

The Banco di Sicilia was one of the six Italian banks of issue operating before the consolidation of note-issuing authority under the Banca d'Italia — a process that dragged across decades and was only completed in 1926. Sicily's bank retained its issuing privilege unusually late, partly due to political resistance from the island's financial establishment and partly because Rome found it expedient not to force the issue prematurely.

Staderini's Rome workshop handled much of the peripheral Italian bank printing during this period, producing notes for institutions that the new unified state hadn't yet absorbed. The 24-year date span on this series reflects how long individual sheets from a single printing authorization could remain legally current.