The euro (EUR or €) is the common currency for 12 member states of the European Union (the Eurozone), including Italy. The euro coins have two different sides; one common, European side showing the value of the coin and one national side featuring a design chosen by the EU member state where the coin was minted. Each member state has one or more designs unique to that country.

For images of the common side and a detailed description of the coins, see Euro coins.

Italian euro coins all have a design unique to one coin, though there is a common theme of famous Italian works of art from one of Italy's renowned artists. 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 if they were imprinted earlier for sure, as they were first distributed to the public in December 2001.

The choice of the design of the coins was left to the Italian public by means of a TV broadcast where alternative designs were presented, letting the people vote by calling a certain telephone number. However, the 1-euro coin was missing in this "election", because Economy minister Carlo Azeglio Ciampi had already decided it would sport the Vitruvian man of Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo's work is highly symbolical as it represents the Renaissance focus on man as the measure of all things, and has simultaneously a round shape that fits the coin perfectly. As minister Ciampi observed, this represents the "coin to the service of Man", instead of Man to the service of money.

Depiction of Italian euro coinage | Obverse side

€ 0.01	€ 0.02	€ 0.05
The Castel del Monte , a 13th cen. castle in Apulia	Mole Antonelliana, a tower symbolising the city of Turin	The Colosseum in Rome, famous Roman amphitheatre
€ 0.10	€ 0.20	€ 0.50
The Birth of Venus by painter Sandro Botticelli	The futurist sculpture Unique Forms of Continuity in Space by Umberto Boccioni	The equestrian statue of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius
€ 1.00	€ 2.00	€ 2 Coin Edge
		The edge lettering features the number "2" six times alternated with ** for a total of 12 stars
Vitruvian Man, drawing by Leonardo da Vinci	Portrait of Dante Alighieri by painter Raphael

External links

• European Central Bank
• Banca d'Italia