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500 Lire
| Issuer | Banca d'Italia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1947-1961 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Lira (1861-2001) |
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| Obverse description | At left, an intaglio vignette of Italia personified as a classical female figure in profile, laureate and draped, set within an ornate frame. The centre and right portion of the note carry large letterpress denomination text 'LIRE CINQUECENTO' over a fine guilloche underprint, with the Medusa-head vignette in the lower centre serving as the cashier's seal area. The decree date 'DECR. MIN. 14 AGOSTO 1947' appears in red along the lower margin. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in brown and grey tones, dominated by a large central guilloche panel enclosing the numeral '500' in ornate lettering. To the left is a plain rectangular watermark window, and to the right a complex interlaced guilloche roundel. The legal warning inscription runs along the lower centre, and 'BANCA D'ITALIA' is lettered across the top, with the numeral '500' repeated in each corner. |
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| Comments |
This note spans one of the more turbulent stretches of postwar Italian monetary history — issued first in March 1947 under Luigi Einaudi, then Governor of Banca d'Italia and soon to become the Republic's second President, it continued printing through 1961 under Guido Carli's governorship. Einaudi's signature appearing on currency he would shortly abandon for the Quirinale is a biographical oddity rarely commented on in catalog literature.
The fourteen-year production run across such different political and economic conditions means signature combinations matter considerably to date attribution. The Carli/Ripa pairing represents the note's final issue, by which point the 500 Lire denomination was already losing practical relevance to inflation.