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Venetian lira / ducato corrente account

Venetians priced ordinary goods and smaller debts in lire piccoli.1

Years
Under research
Where
Venice
Family
Other origins
Status
Under research

Venetians priced ordinary goods and smaller debts in lire piccoli. Ducati correnti and lire grossi supplied larger steps in the same fixed account scale. A 1455 Senate rule used that reckoning for payments into the treasury.1

The lira existed in accounts before it appeared as the lira Tron coin in 1472. Minting a coin with that value gave physical form to an existing account; it did not create another currency.1

A fuller story is under research.

Timeline

  1. A treasury-payment rule

    The fiscal record attests ordinary Venetian reckoning.1

  2. Transferable state debts and bank accounting

    The early account branch is qualified, not assigned a single birthday.2

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.

Successor connections

Complete evidence record →
Legal history and sources
Fiscal witness
2 August AD 1455
Ordinary scale
1 ducato corrente = 6 lire 4 soldi
Bank connection
Qualified early branch; exact boundary unresolved

Tucci documents ordinary Venetian prices and debts in lire piccoli, with a treasury-payment rule dated 2 August 1455. Ducati correnti and lire grossi belong to the same fixed scale in the period examined. The 1472 lira Tron coin does not mark the account’s creation.1

The Banco del Giro opened in 1619 to turn amounts owed by the Venetian state into transferable balances. Roberds and Velde describe its early account differentiation and the 1635 reform; this supports an early account branch from Venetian reckoning, while the exact identity boundary remains qualified. No Rialto-to-Giro identity is assumed.2

The Banco del Giro made state debts transferable from 1619. Its balances developed a distinct bank valuation. That supports a qualified connection from ordinary Venetian reckoning, although the original account records are still needed to locate the precise boundary.2

Source notes

  1. Ugo Tucci · Monete e banche nel secolo del ducato d’oro, Storia di Venezia (1996)

    Section Le monete di conto: prices and obligations; August 2, 1455 treasury-payment rule; one fixed lira piccoli / ducato corrente / lira grossi scale

  2. Roberds and Velde · Roberds and Velde, Early Public Banks (2014 revised), Chicago WP 2014-03; Pandemic recession and helicopter money: Venice · Pandemic recession and helicopter money: Venice,1629–1631, Financial History Review (2022)

    Printed pp. 21–25: distinct Rialto and Giro histories; 1619 transferable state debt; Giro account separation and 1635 reform; Section I, paragraphs on Banco del Giro: 1619 state creditors and transferable balances; denominations and relation to Rialto

Full claim history and source register →

Cite this currency

“Venetian lira / ducato corrente account.” The Family Tree of Money. Field Technologies, Inc. Data v52; accessed 14 October 2026.

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