Italy 500 Lire Banca D'Italia, 23.3.1942. P-51d.
Obverse: The drawing consists of a grey frame enclosing a straight festoon formed by yellowish sheaves, bound with pinkish ribbons knotted at the ends. At the centre is an elliptical festoon of pomegranates and leaves, broken into at the left by the circle containing the watermark and at the right by the copperplate figure of a harvest woman seated on the wheat-sheaves holding a sheaf in her left hand and a sickle in the right. In the medallion to the left, a watermark head of Leonardo da Vinci.
Drawing: Inside a large cornice there are three circular spaces. The centre one, the largest, encircled by a laurel wreath, contains black-coloured reproductions of one of Cantalamessa's statuary groups, with the personifications of Law, Finance and Economy. The circle to the left contains the coat of arms of the House of Savoy sustained by a crowned golden eagle, greyish in colour; to the right, in watermark, the head of Leonardo da Vinci.
Drawing: Giovanni Capranesi
Dimensions: 186x 101 mm. (plus a white border several mm wide)
Paper: Paste watermark.
Characteristics: Chrome letterpress and copperplate.
Printer: Bank of Italy printing works, Rome; Bank of Italy Printing Works, L'Aquila (1942-43).
No. notes authorized: 78,000,000.
Legislation: Ministerial Decree of 15 March 1918; Ministerial Decree of 27 June 1919; Ministerial Decree of 9 August 1943.
Italian banknotes and paper money from Italy
1915-1943 Issue
“modified old type”
“new type”