Not everybody knows that during the revolutionary period of 1848 (actually a bit later, in 1849) there existed a republic in central Italy.

I'm speaking about the second Roman republic, the second attempt in living memory to enstablish a democracy in Rome, the first being in 1798-1799, during the Campaign of Italy by the French Republic.

This attempt was short-lived, and ultimately perished after Napoleon III (grandson of Napoleone Bonaparte, the man that helped to enstablish the first Roman Republic, funny enough) besieged Rome and ultimately forced the revolutionary government to surrender.

The impressive part of all of this is that, before the French siege, many armies tried to extinguish the revolution and, spoiler, they all failed. The Roman Republic was attacked by:

-The Austro-Hungarian Army, lead by general Radetsky, the same man who defeated the Piedmontese (later Italian) in 1849, leading to the abdicaton of then king Carlo Alberto di Savoia, in favor of his son, Vittorio Emanuele II, who became, in 1861, the first king of Italy.

-A first French invasion, 7.000 men strong

-The army of the kingdom of Two Sicilies, fighting to re-instate Pope Pius IX on the throne (he was an exile in the kingdom)

-Spain, minor invasion. they had a ship near Civitavecchia (port near Rome)

All these invasions listed here failed.

The Roman Army was led by:

-General Durando, a revolutionary that (in the eternal contradictory spirit of the Italian Risorgimento) also fought for the Italian Kingdom against Austria-Hungary in the Third Indipendence War (known in the rest of the world as "Austro-Prussian War)

-Giuseppe Garibaldi, same as above, he was a republican and fought for the Roman Republic (and many other revolutions around the whole world, starting in South America) but, after making his considerations, fought for an united Italy under the Savoia dynasty, conquering the kingdom of Two Sicilies a decade after defending against it as a general of the Roman Republic.

Pictured is a 3 Baiocchi coin from the Republic, needless to say (but always better to remember) the Fascies Lictor and the Eagle weren't associated with Fascism at the time, as it would be born exactly 70 years later, in 1919, instead they were associated with the even older Roman Repblic, the Republic of Furius Camillus, Iulius Caesar and other notable figures.

I could write paragraphs about 1848, the Risorgimento and the Roman Republic, but frankly, it's an immense topic. Linked under this post there's the wikipedia page of the Roman Republic and other intersting pages.

A "Baiocco" is worth 0.01 "Scudo", so we could say this is a 3 Scudo cent coin.

It's a Copper coin, Weighing 25 Grams, about 0.2485 cheeseburgers.

The mint details are as follows (thanks to Numista):

A 3 baiocchi coin can be found for 25-50€ in Italy depending on conditions, certified ones go for around 90€.

For more info:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Republic_(1849%E2%80%931850)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Republic_(1798%E2%80%931799)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Mazzini

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unification_of_Italy

Off the top of my head the ones I like most are from Mexico, Japan, the UK, Russia, and some of the Euro coins. Is there a source where I could just browse the various coins in regular circulation in the world? I started searching on Google, but I got a bunch of results for weird novelty coins from Somalia.

New coin I bought, had to downscale the picture, was better before

This isnt as expansive of a post as the last one, just wanted to showcase a cool coin, as is tradition, I own one but I'm on vacation right now (returning today!) and, also as is tradition, the reverse is more interesting than the obverse. As is common with coins from this age.

Photos courtesy of 1925collections CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

As for the previous post, I own a couple, but I'm on vacation right now, so have some stock photos from numista.

This coin is very interesting because in some sense it isn't just an Italian coin, it's a French coin, a Russian coin, a Spanish coin, a Dutch coin, a Greek coin and much more.

What am I talking about? Well, I'm talking about the Latin monetary union, a monetary standard in use between 1865 and 1927 (but that de facto died during world war 1) and that entailed that:

Every coin from every member state could circulate freely with no tariffs (ex: you could buy something that had a cost of 5 lire paying with 5 francs)

Every coin of the "5" denomination should contain 25 grams of .900 silver, or 1.61 grams of .900 gold

Every coin, from the 0,20 to the 200 denomination had it's precise amount of gold or silver it should contain, to be legal in the union. This is a map of the countries that took part in the pact.

Courtesy of Wikipedia

And this is the front of the coin, courtesy of numista.

The 5 lire coin from Vittorio Emanuele II is my, and many Italian's favorite way of stacking silver, since the premiums aren't quite high, a coin in F/VF, when not a key date, costs about 25/30 euros.

Edit: for more info about the Latin monetary union, here's the Wikipedia page: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_Monetary_Union

Edit2(this is becoming reddit): if you live in a country on that map, it's rare but not impossible your grand grand fathers have some coins from some other countries on that map, Ive heard of a story of a man in Italy who found a 5 francs coin in his grandfather's drawer, after learning about the Latin monetary union it all becomes clear, those coins circulated freely. You could buy a meal with 2 Lire or with 2 francs, you could buy a hat with 5 Drachmas or with 5 Rubles.

and so it's Uncommon but not impossible to find some coins from foreign Latin countries of that period in old houses.

A favorite of mine, I own one but unfortunately I'm on vacation and don't have any pictures, so have a stock photo from numista.

It's a copper Commemorative coin weighting about 5 grams, with a diameter of 25mm, a face value of 0.05 Italian Lire.

A 1908 specimen in VF costs about 40 euros, when bought with warranty from a coin shop and directly in Italy.

Front photo: