2 Lire Aversa; PoW Camp

Prisoner of war camp scrip from Aversa — a town in the Campania region north of Naples — issued for use within the Italian-run compound during 1942–43. Italy operated an extensive system of campo concentramento facilities for Allied POWs, and internal scrip was the standard mechanism for controlling canteen purchases and preventing real currency from accumulating in prisoner hands. The Aversa camp held primarily British and Commonwealth prisoners taken in the North African campaigns.

Paper camp issues from this period are inherently fragile, and attrition was high — notes were confiscated, destroyed, or simply disintegrated under the conditions of wartime captivity. The armistice of September 1943 abruptly ended Italian administration of these camps, cutting the scrip's operational life short.