History

Banca d'Italia was founded in 1893 as part of an overall reorganization of Italy's banks of issue. In 1926, it became the sole institution authorized to issue banknotes and was given powers of banking supervision that would be broadened and strengthened by the 1936 Banking Law. This law recognized Banca d'Italia as a public-law institution and was the fundamental legislation on Italian banking until 1993, when the Consolidated Law on Banking was enacted, which is still in force.

A crucial passage in the Bank's history was the stabilization of the lira in 1947, which put an end to post-war inflation and created the monetary conditions for the 'economic miracle' of the 1950s. The 1948 Constitution also enshrined the principle of the 'protection of savings'.

Following the shocks to the international monetary system and the lira of the 1970s, Italian disinflation was assisted by stronger legal safeguards for the central bank's independence. The re-establishment of the stability of the currency and the start made on rebalancing the public finances enabled Italy to comply with the standards set by the Treaty of Maastricht (1992) and to be in the first group of countries to adopt the euro as their currency in 1999. Euro banknotes and coins went into circulation in 2002.

Banca d'Italia's history is the result of a complex evolution, and has accompanied the country through its transformations. It can be divided into five phases:

• Origins
• Banca d'Italia from its inception to the 1936 Banking Law
• World War II and post-war monetary stabilization
• From the 1950s to Maastricht
• In Europe

In his preface to the initial volumes in Banca d'Italia's Historical Series, Carlo Maria Cipolla invites readers to reflect upon the identity and functions of an evolving central bank: 'The origins of banking are lost in the mists of time, but not those of central banks, whose history has played out entirely over barely three centuries. […] In fact, the central bank did not begin as the complete, full-blown institution we know today. The central bank is a body that has developed over time, gradually acquiring new and increasingly complex functions, duties and features, and setting up more and more intricate and delicate relations with the rest of the banking and financial system and with the political system and the economy in general'.

The studies promoted by Banca d'Italia on Italian monetary and financial history are brought together in the Bank's Historical Series. A summary may be found in F. Cotula, M. De Cecco and G. Toniolo (eds.), La Banca d'Italia. Sintesi della ricerca storica 1893-1960, Laterza, Roma-Bari, 2003.