The Euro was introduced on 1 January 2002 in Italy, like the other 11 members of the Eurozone, started using Euro notes and Euro coins for cash transactions. Within a few months, the old coins and banknotes in Lire were withdrawn.

Italian euro coins all have a design unique to each coin, in Italy, the euro coin designs were subject to scrutiny by a national technical and artistic committee before being presented to the nation on RAI uno, Italy’s largest national television station. A different design has been selected for each denomination, 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.

Euro notes are issued in denominations of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 and 500 euros, and coins in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 cents and 1 and 2 euros.

€ 0.10

€ 0.50

€ 1.00

€ 2.00

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