The scudo (plural ''scudi'') is the official currency of the

Sovereign Military Order of Malta The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta ( it, Sovrano Militare Ordine Ospedaliero di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme, di Rodi e di Malta; ...

and was the currency of

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

during the rule of the Order over Malta, which ended in 1798. It is subdivided into 12 ''tarì'' (singular ''tarì''), each of 20 ''grani'' (singular ''grano'') with 6 ''piccoli'' (singular ''piccolo'') to the grano. It is pegged to the

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

(at a rate of 1 scudo to €0.24, which translates to €1 = 4 scudi 2 tarì).

History

The scudo was first minted in

Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the S ...

in 1318. By 1500 the coins had the distinctive characteristics of a cross and the Order's and Grandmaster's coat of arms on one side, and the head of St. John the Baptist on the other. The scudo was first minted in Malta during the reign of

Piero de Ponte Fra' Piero del Ponte (26 August 1462 – 17 November 1535) was the 45th Grand Master of the Order of Saint John between 1534 and 1535. He hailed from Asti, in northern Italy and was a descendant of the ancient family of Casal-Gros and ...

. The quality of the coins improved especially during the reign of António Manoel de Vilhena in the early 18th century. At some points in time, foreign coinage was allowed to circulate in Malta alongside the scudo. These included Spanish dollars,

Venetian lira The lira (plural ''lire'') was the distinct currency of Venice until 1848, when it was replaced by the Italian lira. It originated from the Carolingian monetary system used in much of Western Europe since the 8th century CE, with the ''lira'' subd ...

, Louis d'or and other currencies. During the

French occupation of Malta The French occupation of Malta lasted from 1798 to 1800. It was established when the Order of Saint John surrendered to Napoleon Bonaparte following the French landing in June 1798. In Malta, the French established a constitutional tradition in ...

in 1798, the French authorities melted down some of the silver from the island's churches and struck them into 15 and 30 tarì coins from the 1798 dies of Grandmaster Hompesch. After the Maltese rebellion, gold and silver ingots were stamped with a face value in grani, tarì and scudi and they briefly circulated as coinage in

Valletta Valletta (, mt, il-Belt Valletta, ) is an administrative unit and capital of Malta. Located on the main island, between Marsamxett Harbour to the west and the Grand Harbour to the east, its population within administrative limits in 2014 ...

and the surrounding area. The scudo continued to circulate on the island of Malta, which had become a

British colony The British Overseas Territories (BOTs), also known as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs), are fourteen territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom. They are the last remnants of the former Bri ...

, along with some other currencies until they were all replaced by the pound in 1825, at a rate of 1 pound to 12 scudi using British coinage. Despite this, some scudi remained in use and the last coins were withdrawn from circulation and demonetized in November 1886. 1 scudo in 1886 had the spending power equivalent to £3.82 or €4.35 in 2011. The present-day Republic of Malta adopted the

decimal The decimal numeral system (also called the base-ten positional numeral system and denary or decanary) is the standard system for denoting integer and non-integer numbers. It is the extension to non-integer numbers of the Hindu–Arabic numeral ...

Maltese pound in 1972, and the

in 2008. The SMOM, which is now based in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, has issued souvenir coins denominated in grani, tarì and scudi since 1961. The 1961 issues were minted in

, while mints in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

and

Arezzo Arezzo ( , , ) , also ; ett, 𐌀𐌓𐌉𐌕𐌉𐌌, Aritim. is a city and '' comune'' in Italy and the capital of the province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of above sea lev ...

were used in 1962 and 1963. From 1964 onwards coins were minted in the Order's own mint. The scudo was also the currency used on the Order's stamps from 1961 to 2005, when the euro began to be used.

Coins

Coins were issued in denominations of 1, , 5 and 10 grani, 1, 2, 4 and 6 tarì, 1, , , 2, , 5, 10 and 20 scudi. The 1, , 5 and 10 grani and 1 tarì were minted in copper, with the grani denominated as 15 piccoli. The 2, 4 and 6 tarì, 1, , , 2 and scudi were silver coins, with the , and scudi denominated as 15, 16 and 30 tarì. The 5, 10, 20 scudi coins were gold. Coins minted today include bronze 10 grani, silver 9 tarì, 1 and 2 scudi and gold 5 and 10 scudi. In 2011, a gold coin of António Manoel de Vilhena minted in 1725 sold for US$340,000.

References

Currencies of Europe Currencies of Malta Escudo {{Money-stub