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2 Euros Giovanni Boccaccio
| Issuer | Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato |
|---|---|
| Year | 2013 |
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| Orientation | Medal alignment ↑↑ |
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| Obverse description | The centre features a three-quarter right-facing portrait of the poet and author Giovanni Boccaccio, rendered after the fresco attributed to Andrea del Castagno (c. 1450), preserved in the Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence. The legend BOCCACCIO 1313 2013 arcs along the lower portion of the inner disc, commemorating the 700th anniversary of the writer's birth. To the right of the portrait, the combined monograms R (Rome Mint), RI (Repubblica Italiana), and m (engraver Roberto Mauri) are superimposed in the field. The coin's outer ring bears the twelve stars of the European Union in relief. |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | R RI m BOCCACCIO 1313 2013 |
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| Additional information |
Issued to mark the 700th anniversary of Boccaccio's birth, this coin presented an immediate historical headache: scholars still dispute whether he was born in 1313 in Florence or in Certaldo, and whether his father was resident in Tuscany or France at the time of his birth. Italy chose 1313, and the coin was struck accordingly. Boccaccio's *Decameron*, written in the wake of the 1348 Black Death, is one of the foundational texts of European vernacular prose — the anniversary gave the Italian mint a rare occasion to honor a literary figure rather than a political one.