Italy Euro Coins

Italy attracted a great deal of criticism from its European partners over its public spending and its large debt. On entering the eurozone the Italian economy was the most stretched of all countries by the EU's convergence criteria for membership. By pushing through several reforms, most notably overhauling public finances, the then centre-left government was able to join the euro. However other EU members felt that Italy still had some way to go to meet its' obligations.

Italian euro coins have a design unique to each denomination, though there is a common theme of famous Italian works of art from one of Italy's renowned artists. Each coin is designed by a different designer, from the 1 cent to the 2 euro coin they are: Eugenio Driutti, Luciana De Simoni, Ettore Lorenzo Frapiccini, Claudia Momoni, Maria Angela Cassol, Roberto Mauri, Laura Cretara and Maria Carmela Colaneri. All designs feature the 12 stars of the EU, the year of imprint and the overlapping letters "RI" for Repubblica Italiana (Italian Republic). There are no Italian euro coins dated earlier than 2002, even though they were certainly minted earlier, as they were first distributed to the public in December 2001.

The choice of the design of the coins was left to the Italian public by means of a TV broadcast where alternative designs were presented, letting the people vote by calling a certain telephone number. However, the 1-euro coin was missing in this "election", because Carlo Azeglio Ciampi (now ex-President of the Italian Republic), then Economy minister, had already decided it would sport the Vitruvian man of Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo's work is highly symbolical as it represents the Renaissance focus on man as the measure of all things, and has simultaneously a round shape that fits the coin perfectly. As president Ciampi observed, this represents the "coin to the service of Man", instead of Man to the service of money. Please take a look at The Italian National Mint.

The Italian 2 euro coin edge inscription

Edge
The sequence "2 *" repeated six times alternately upright and inverted

Mintmarks on Italian euro coins

• Maria Carmela Colaneri designed the 2 Euro coin (initials 'MCC')
• Laura Cretara designed the 1 Euro coin (initials 'LC')
• Roberto Mauri designed the 50 cent coin (initials 'M')
• Maria Angela Cassol is the designer for the 20 cent coin (initials 'MAC')
• Claudia Momoni designed the 10 cent coin (initials 'CM')
• Ettore Lorenzo Frapiccini designed the 5 cent coin (initials 'ELF')
• Luciana De Simoni designed the 2 cent coin (initials 'LDS')
• Eugenio Driutti is the designer of the 1 cent coin (initials 'ED')
• All Italian Euros bear the mintmark 'R', representing Rome