The piastra was the most common silver coin of the mainland

Kingdom of Sicily The Kingdom of Sicily ( la, Regnum Siciliae; it, Regno di Sicilia; scn, Regnu di Sicilia) was a state that existed in the south of the Italian Peninsula and for a time the region of Ifriqiya from its founding by Roger II of Sicily in 1130 un ...

, also known as the

Kingdom of Naples The Kingdom of Naples ( la, Regnum Neapolitanum; it, Regno di Napoli; nap, Regno 'e Napule), also known as the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was ...

. In order to distinguish it from the piastra issued on the island of Sicily, it is referred to as the "Neapolitan piastra" as opposed to the " Sicilian piastra". These two piastra were equal, but were subdivided differently. The Neapolitan piastra was divided into 120 ''grana'' (

singular Singular may refer to: * Singular, the grammatical number that denotes a unit quantity, as opposed to the plural and other forms * Singular homology * SINGULAR, an open source Computer Algebra System (CAS) * Singular or sounder, a group of boar ...

: ''grano''), each of 2 ''tornesi'' (singular: ''tornese'') or 12 ''cavalli'' (singular: '' cavallo''). There were also the ''carlino'' worth 10 grana and the ''ducato'' worth 100 grana. In 1812, the

Neapolitan lira The lira was the currency of the mainland part of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, known as the Kingdom of Naples, between 1812 and 1813. The currency was issued by Joachim Murat, who claimed the title of "King of the Two Sicilies" but only contro ...

was introduced by the occupying French in an attempt to decimalize the Neapolitan currency units. However, the attempt failed, and the decimalization was limited to changing the value of the ''cavallo'' to one tenth of a ''grano''. After the restoration of

Bourbon Bourbon may refer to: Food and drink * Bourbon whiskey, an American whiskey made using a corn-based mash * Bourbon barrel aged beer, a type of beer aged in bourbon barrels * Bourbon biscuit, a chocolate sandwich biscuit * A beer produced by ...

control, a single currency was issued for the whole of the

Two Sicilies The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies ( it, Regno delle Due Sicilie) was a kingdom in Southern Italy from 1816 to 1860. The kingdom was the largest sovereign state by population and size in Italy before Italian unification, comprising Sicily and al ...

, the Two Sicilies piastra. This new piastra was subdivided in the same way as the Neapolitan piastra.

Coins

In the late 18th century, coins circulated in denominations of 3, 4, 6, 9 and 12 cavalli, 3, 5, 8 and 10 tornesi, 10 (''carlino''), 20 (''

tarì A tarì (from Arabic طري ''ṭarī'', lit. "fresh" or "newly minted money") was the Christian designation of a type of gold coin of Islamic origin minted in Sicily, Malta and Southern Italy from about 913 to the 13th century. History In the I ...

''), 60 (''mezza piastra'') and 120 grana (''piastra'') and 2, 3 and 6 ducati. On occasion also a 50 and 100 grana silver pieces had been struck, but not in the 18th century. The cavalli and tornesi denominations were struck in copper, with the grana denominations up to the ''piastra'' struck in silver and the higher denominations in gold. In 1799, the short-lived Neapolitan Republic issued copper 4 and 6 tornesi, and silver 6 and 12 carlini. The restored kingdom resumed coin production, issuing many of the earlier denominations, plus copper 4 and 6 tornesi. In 1810, a gold 40 '' franchi'' coin was issued, a prelude to the introduction of the lira three years later.

References

* {{refend Currencies of Italy Obsolete Italian currencies History of the Kingdom of Naples