Lire (Italy)

Lira Italiana (Italian)
Lira banknotes ranging from ₤2,000 to ₤500,000. ₤1000 coin (1997)
ISO 4217
Code	ITL
Denominations
Subunit
1⁄100	centesimo Subunits were abolished after WWII
Plural	lire
centesimo	centesimi
Symbol	₤ or L
Banknotes	₤1,000, ₤2,000, ₤5,000, ₤10,000, ₤50,000, ₤100,000, ₤500,000
Coins
Freq. used	₤50, ₤100, ₤200, ₤500, ₤1000
Rarely used	₤1, ₤2, ₤5, ₤10, ₤20
Demographics
User(s)	None, previously:  Kingdom of Italy  Italy  San Marino   Vatican City but not Campione d'Italia  Albanian Kingdom (1939–43)
Issuance
Central bank	Banca d'Italia
Website	www.bancaditalia.it
Printer	Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato
Website	www.ipzs.it
Mint	Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato
Website	www.ipzs.it
Valuation
Inflation	2.3% (2001)
ERM
Since	13 March 1979, 25 November 1996
Withdrawn	17 September 1992
Fixed rate since	31 December 1998
Replaced by €, non cash	1 January 1999
Replaced by €, cash	1 January 2002
€ =	₤1,936.27
This infobox shows the latest status before this currency was rendered obsolete.

None, previously:

The lira (Italian: [ˈliːra]; plural lire [ˈliːre]) was the currency of Italy between 1861 and 2002 and of the Albanian Kingdom between 1941 and 1943. Between 1999 and 2002, the Italian lira was officially a national subunit of the euro. However, cash payments could be made in lira only, as euro coins or notes were not yet available. The lira was also the currency of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy between 1807 and 1814.

The term originates from the value of a pound weight (Latin: libra) of high purity silver and as such is a direct cognate of the British pound sterling; in some countries, such as Cyprus and Malta, the words lira and pound were used as equivalents, before the euro was adopted in 2008 in the two countries. "L", sometimes in a double-crossed script form ("₤"), was the symbol most often used. Until the Second World War, it was subdivided into 100 centesimi (singular: centesimo), which translates to "hundredths" or "cents".

The lira was established at 4.5 grams of silver or 290.322 milligrams of gold. This was a direct continuation of the Sardinian lira. Other currencies replaced by the Italian lira included the Lombardy-Venetia pound, the Two Sicilies piastra, the Tuscan fiorino, the Papal States scudo and the Parman lira. In 1865, Italy formed part of the Latin Monetary Union in which the lira was set as equal to, among others, the French, Belgian and Swiss francs: in fact, in various Gallo-Italic dialects in north-western Italy, the lira was outright called "franc". This practice has obviously ended with the introduction of the euro in 2002.