''Baiocco'' is an ancient Italian currency denomination largely used in
central Italy
Central Italy ( or ) is one of the five official statistical regions of Italy used by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), a first-level NUTS region with code ITI, and a European Parliament constituency. It has 11,704,312 inhabita ...
, especially in
Lazio
Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...
.
History
The origin of the name is uncertain. Its value was originally equivalent to a
shilling
The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currency, currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 1 ...
, slowly changing through centuries into five
quattrini, or consequently twenty
pennies
A penny is a coin (: pennies) or a unit of currency (: pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. At present, it is t ...
.
The size, weight and value of the coin itself changed over time.
At a certain point, towards the middle of the 16th century, it became so thin that it deserved the nickname "Baiocchino" or "Baiocchétto" because it actually weighed less than 0.25g.
It underwent numerous other variations of material losing more and more silver and becoming more and more low alloy, so much so that it was indicated with the derogatory "''Baiocchella''" during the period of ''Sixtus V'' from 1585 to 1590.
It disappeared after the
unification of Italy
The unification of Italy ( ), also known as the Risorgimento (; ), was the 19th century Political movement, political and social movement that in 1861 ended in the Proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, annexation of List of historic states of ...
between 1861 and 1870, when the
Italian lira
The lira ( , ; : lire, , ) was the currency of Italy between 1861 and 2002. It was introduced by the Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic), Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy in 1807 at par with the French franc, and was subsequently adopted by the different s ...
was introduced as an equivalent of the
French franc
The franc (; , ; currency sign, sign: F or Fr), also commonly distinguished as the (FF), was a currency of France. Between 1360 and 1641, it was the name of coins worth 1 livre tournois and it remained in common parlance as a term for this amoun ...
.
File:Baiocco 1795.jpg
File:3 baiocchi.jpg
See also
*
History of coins in Italy
Italy has a long history of different coinage types, which spans thousands of years. Italy has been influential at a coinage point of view: the medieval Florentine florin, one of the most used coinage types in European history and one of the m ...
*
Pound (currency)
Pound is a name of various units of currency. It is used in some countries today and previously was used in many others. The English word "pound" derives from the Latin language, Latin expression , "a pound by weight", in which means 'scale' or ' ...
*
Shilling
The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currency, currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 1 ...
*
Penny
A penny is a coin (: pennies) or a unit of currency (: pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. At present, it is ...
References
{{Historic Italian currency and coinage
Obsolete Italian currencies
Coins of Italy