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Neapolitan / Two Sicilies ducato

The connection between this earlier account and the later Restoration ducato remains uncertain.1

Years
Under research
Where
Naples and the Two Sicilies; regional practice varied
Family
Other origins
Status
Under research

A bank entry from April 4, 1588 records 11 ducati and 80 grana as the final payment for a servant’s work in Maria D’Avalos’s household. It brings ducat accounting into view through an ordinary obligation. The connection between this earlier account and the later Restoration ducato remains uncertain.1

The Restoration government returned to ducato accounting in 1818. The later Two Sicilies name and changes in coins or subdivisions did not, by themselves, create new currencies. Sicily’s own oncia reckoning nevertheless remained distinct enough to require separate treatment in the unification laws.23

Sicily’s law of August 17, 1860 dealt with the books as well as the mint. Obligations in older money could be settled in Italian lire under its tables, which valued a ducato at 4.25 lire. The law initially left public accounts in ducati and grana during the transition.42

The deadlines then moved. A national law in July 1861 postponed the lira-only obligation paragraph and the public-account requirement until January 1, 1862. These are the provisions for Sicily; mainland implementation needs its own records.5

Timeline

  1. A payment in ducati and grana

    An archive transcription records the settlement for domestic service.1

  2. The Restoration account

    The ducato is identified as the account unit.2

  3. Sicilian obligations can be paid in lire

    The law provides a 4.25-lira conversion for the ducato.4

  4. Revised accounting deadline

    Specified Sicilian obligation and public-account rules become compulsory.5

Coins and notes

Images are under research. Each image will carry its caption, collection credit and public-domain or CC0 license.

How do we know?

Earlier stages not yet researched.

Complete evidence record →
Legal history and sources
Restoration account
Ducato reckoning documented in AD 1818
Earlier witness
A 1588 bank payment; continuity remains qualified
Sicilian conversion terms
1 ducato = 4.25 Italian lire

The Banco dell’Annunziata entry dated 4 April 1588 records a final service payment of 11 ducati 80 grana. This securely attests ducat-denominated banking obligations in Naples; uninterrupted identity with the later ducato account has not been independently established.1

The official central-bank chronology identifies the ducato as the restored account unit in 1818. Sicilian Law 159 of 1860 expressly retains public accounting in ducati and grana during the transition. No new identity is created for the Two Sicilies name or the changed subdivision.2

The 1860 Sicilian law names the oncia of account in table B. Its obligation-settlement tables distinguish old Sicilian reckoning from Neapolitan decimal money. The oncia is admitted as a regional account, with tarì and grana retained as its scales and denominations.3

Articles 14–15 of Sicilian Law 159 govern payments against obligations stated in old or new money. Table B values a ducato at 4.25 Italian lire and the oncia of account at 12.75 lire. These are the law’s conversion terms, not universal historical pegs.4

Law 128 of 28 July 1861 postpones the alinea of article 16 and article 17 of the Sicilian monetary law until 1 January 1862. This affects the lira-only obligation rule and public budgets/accounts; it does not postpone every provision or prove that old accounting vanished immediately.5

Other historical conversions

These replacements, contributions and local conversions belong to the currencies’ histories. They do not establish founding ancestry of the receiving currency.

  • To Italian lira · 1860–1862

    In Sicily, obligations and public books stated in Neapolitan ducati and grana passed into existing Italian-lira reckoning under Law 159. Its table gives one ducato as 4.25 lire. The lira-only obligation paragraph and public-account requirement were postponed to 1 January 1862. This scoped Sicilian settlement does not establish every mainland deadline.

    Conversion terms and evidence ↗

Source notes

  1. Fondazione ilCartastorie / Historical Archive of Banco di Napoli · Banco dell’Annunziata ledger entry, 4 April 1588, transcribed in L’omicidio Carafa D’Avalos

    Primary account transcription: final service payment of 11 ducati 80 grana, dated April 4, 1588

  2. Banca d’Italia · Monetary unification chronology; Sicilian prodictatorial government, Agostino Depretis · Law 159, 17 August 1860, Raccolta degli atti del governo dittatoriale e prodittatoriale in Sicilia (Palermo, 1861)

    1818 and 1861–1862 entries: ducato account; Piedmont lira renamed and extended; unification law; Printed pp. 215–220 (PDF pp. 122–125): articles 1 and 14–17; tables B–C. Obligation conversion and separate Sicilian and Neapolitan reckoning

  3. Sicilian prodictatorial government, Agostino Depretis · Law 159, 17 August 1860, Raccolta degli atti del governo dittatoriale e prodittatoriale in Sicilia (Palermo, 1861)

    Printed pp. 215–220 (PDF pp. 122–125): articles 1 and 14–17; tables B–C. Obligation conversion and separate Sicilian and Neapolitan reckoning

  4. Sicilian prodictatorial government, Agostino Depretis · Law 159, 17 August 1860, Raccolta degli atti del governo dittatoriale e prodittatoriale in Sicilia (Palermo, 1861)

    Printed pp. 215–220 (PDF pp. 122–125): articles 1 and 14–17; tables B–C. Obligation conversion and separate Sicilian and Neapolitan reckoning

  5. Sicilian prodictatorial government, Agostino Depretis · Law 159, 17 August 1860, Raccolta degli atti del governo dittatoriale e prodittatoriale in Sicilia (Palermo, 1861); Kingdom of Italy · Law 128, 28 July 1861, postponing specified Sicilian monetary provisions

    Printed pp. 215–220 (PDF pp. 122–125): articles 1 and 14–17; tables B–C. Obligation conversion and separate Sicilian and Neapolitan reckoning; Gazzetta Ufficiale 198, August 14, 1861, first page, lower right: sole article; January 1, 1862

Full claim history and source register →

Cite this currency

“Neapolitan / Two Sicilies ducato.” The Family Tree of Money. Field Technologies, Inc. Data v52; accessed 14 October 2026.

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