10 Soldi – Milan

In 1779, Milan operated under a complex and often chaotic monetary system, a legacy of its position as the capital of the Duchy of Milan within the Austrian Habsburg Empire. The official currency was the Milanese lira, subdivided into 20 soldi or 240 denari, but this was just the unit of account. In practice, a multitude of physical coins circulated simultaneously, including domestic issues from the Milan Mint, various Austrian thalers and kreuzers, and a significant influx of foreign coins from neighbouring Italian states like Savoy, Venice, and Genoa, as well as Spanish and French silver. This proliferation created constant challenges for merchants and citizens alike.

The core problem was the lack of a fixed, reliable relationship between these coins' metal content and their declared value in lire. The authorities frequently issued proclamations adjusting the exchange rates (cridas), attempting to align the circulating specie with the theoretical monetary standard and to prevent the outflow of full-weight silver coins. However, these adjustments were often reactive and destabilizing, leading to confusion, arbitrage, and a tendency for "good" full-bodied coinage to be hoarded or exported, leaving a degraded mix of lighter coins in daily circulation—a classic example of Gresham's Law.

This monetary instability reflected broader economic tensions. While Milan was a prosperous commercial and agricultural centre, its financial system was strained by imperial fiscal demands from Vienna and the costs of maintaining Austrian administration. The confusion in the currency market acted as a friction on trade and credit, prompting calls from reform-minded economists and merchants for a unified, state-controlled coinage. However, a true resolution would not come until the Napoleonic reforms of the early 19th century, which swept away the old system entirely.