What type of currency was used in italy in the 16th century?
First of all, Italy as a country, is a modern construction. In the 16th century, what we now call Italy, was a peninsula of city-states, competing with one another fiercely for trade and influence. Each city-state had its own nobility and political organization, and in each, bankers operated within a framework of obligations and loyalty to the aristocracy and landowners. In Florence (Firenza) and surrounding Tuscany, the gold florin was the standard for currency from 1252 to 1523. The competing city-state of Venice used the ducat as its unit of exchange in that period, and because of the success of Venice as a trading port and banking center, the ducat became a popular currency throughout much of Europe.
