A female figure holding a ear of wheat in her hand.

An allegorical figure of Liberty in flight holding a torch in her left hand. Below the figure the is the crowned Savoy shield and the names of the author and of the engraver. To the left of the shield is the denomination, the year of issue and the mintmark.

The House of Savoy is one of the oldest royal families in the world, being founded in 1003 in the historical Savoy region. Through gradual expansion, it grew from ruling a small county in that region to the attainment of the rank of king (of Sicily) in 1713. Through its junior branch, the House of Savoy-Carignano, it led the unification of Italy in 1861 and ruled the Kingdom of Italy from 1861 until 1946 and, briefly, the Kingdom of Spain in the 19th century. The Savoyard kings of Italy were Victor Emmanuel II, Umberto I, Victor Emmanuel III, and Umberto II. The last monarch ruled for a few weeks before being deposed following the Constitutional Referendum of 1946, after which the Italian Republic was proclaimed.