Florence

Provisional Government, Provisional Government 1859-1860

Pag. 227, PCGS-graded Uncirculated Details

An especially choice and lovely specimen.

Independent republics sprang up in Italy beginning in 1848. Victor Emmanuel II king of Sardinia and Garibaldi aligned themselves in 1859 in an attempt to unify these states, during which time a number of temporary mints were established to produce new money in the name of the new government. Central Italy was divided between the grand duchy of Tuscany and the Papal States. The south was ruled by the bourbon kingdoms of Naples and of the Two Sicilies. In his attempt at unification, Victor Emmanuel II appealed to Napoleon III of France, the consequence of which was that troops were sent to liberate the two regions. Popular local revolts joined the troops, soon removing the grand duke and his family and installing a temporary, Provisional Government.