Denarius - Hadrian ITALIA, Italia

The ITALIA series belongs to a celebrated group of "province coins" issued under Hadrian, almost certainly connected to his extensive touring of the empire between 121 and 132 AD — the most ambitious inspection of provincial territories undertaken by any emperor. Italia's inclusion was politically pointed: by placing the Italian peninsula alongside conquered provinces, Hadrian subtly elevated Rome's heartland within a deliberately egalitarian framework, a position that sat uneasily with the Senate.

RIC II.3 1542 is among the better-documented varieties of the series, catalogued in the 2023 revised second edition which substantially reorganized Hadrianic coinage.