Italy: New silver €5 Proof coin marks centenary anniversary of the birth of celebrated author Italo Calvino

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The Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato Italiano (IPZS) have released new silver Brilliant Uncirculated coins in salute to one of the country’s most popular 20th-century authors and journalists. At the time of his death in 1985, Italo Calvino (born 1923) was the most translated contemporary Italian writer in the world. His whimsical and imaginative fables made him one of the most important and popular Italian fiction writers whose use of symbolism endeared him to generations of lovers of literature which at times satirised the current dilemmas of contemporary society’s behaviour such as fear, love, jealousy, opposition, and competition.

The obverse side of the coin is designed by Antonio Vecchio, who depicts Italo Calvino not from one specific image or photo but a composition of several similar images. Calvino is shown facing to the right and attired in a jacket and tie with the commemorative years 1923 and 2023 placed to the left of the portrait. The text placed around his portrait reads REPUBBLICA – ITALIANA above, and ITALO CALVINO is placed below. The reverse side depicts a scene from Calvino’s novel Il Barone Rampant (translated to “Baron in the Trees”). Described as a metaphor for independence, it tells the adventures of a boy who climbs up a tree to spend the rest of his life inhabiting an arboreal kingdom. The two protagonists, Cosimo and Violante, are featured in detail in the foreground. The novel was the second volume in the fantasy trilogy entitled Our Ancestors, which also included the titles The Cloven Viscount first published in 1952 and The Nonexistent Knight, published in 1959. To the right is the coins’ denomination of 5 EURO along with the R Mintmark denoting the Rome Mint.

Denom.	Metal	Weight	Diameter	Quality	Maximum Mintage
5 euro	.925 Silver	18 g	32 mm	Brilliant Unc.	9,000

Available from the 6th October, the Brilliant Uncirculated-quality coin is part of the annual nine-coin mint set housed in a blister-type folder that also includes the current set of euro coins, one cent to two euros. For additional information, please click here.