Note: This currency has been replaced by the Euro.
Overview
The Italian Lira was the official currency of Italy, prior to the introduction of the Euro in 1999. The Lira was pegged to the Euro at 1 Euro = 1,936.26 Lira. The Italian Lira was issued by the Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato.
Economy
Italy has fewer global multinational corporations compared to other economies of similar size, but it has a large number of small and medium enterprises, clustered in several industrial districts, which are the backbone of its industry.
Italian industry has often focused on the export of niche and luxury goods. This means that it is less able to compete with China and other emerging economies in Asia with regard to quantity, but can withstand competition from them on the basis of Italy’s higher-quality products.
The country was the seventh largest exporter in 2009.
Closer in Italy, business relationships are with other countries in the European Union, which holds approximately 59% of its total trade.
Its major trading partners of the EU, in order of market share, are Germany (12.9%), France (11.4%), and Spain (7.4%).
Tourism is one of the most dynamic and profitable sectors of the national economy, with 43.6 million international tourist arrivals and total revenue estimated at $38.8 billion in 2010. Italy is the fifth most-visited country in the world.
History
The Lira was the currency of Italy between 1861 and 2002.
Between 1999 and 2002, the Lira was officially a national subunit of the Euro. The term originates in the value of P pound of high purity silver, and as such is a direct cognate of the British Pound.
In some countries, such as Italy, Cyprus and Malta, the words Lira and Pound were used interchangeably before the Euro was adopted in those countries in 2008. The letter L, sometimes in script form (₤), was the usual symbol.
Until World War II, the Italian Lira was subdivided into 100 cents.
