Obverse. Photo © NumisCorner.com
  • 2 Euro 2021, Italy, 150th Anniversary of the Establishment of Rome as the Capital of Italy
  • 2 Euro 2021, Italy, 150th Anniversary of the Establishment of Rome as the Capital of Italy
Description

Rome is the capital city and a special comune of Italy (named Comune di Roma Capitale), as well as the capital of the Lazio region. The city has been a major human settlement for almost three millennia. Rome is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio (Latium), along the shores of the Tiber. Vatican City (the smallest country in the world) is an independent country inside the city boundaries of Rome, the only existing example of a country within a city.

Rome's history spans 28 centuries. While Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome at around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it one of the oldest continuously occupied cities in Europe. The city's early population originated from a mix of Latins, Etruscans, and Sabines. Eventually, the city successively became the capital of the Roman Kingdom, the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, and is regarded by many as the first-ever Imperial City and metropolis. It was first called The Eternal City by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, and the expression was also taken up by Ovid, Virgil, and Livy. Rome is also called "Caput Mundi" (Capital of the World). After the fall of the Empire in the west, which marked the beginning of the Middle Ages, Rome slowly fell under the political control of the Papacy, and in the 8th century it became the capital of the Papal States, which lasted until 1870. Beginning with the Renaissance, almost all popes since Nicholas V (1447–1455) pursued a coherent architectural and urban programme over four hundred years, aimed at making the city the artistic and cultural centre of the world. In this way, Rome became first one of the major centres of the Renaissance, and then the birthplace of both the Baroque style and Neoclassicism. Famous artists, painters, sculptors and architects made Rome the centre of their activity, creating masterpieces throughout the city. In 1871, Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, which, in 1946, became the Italian Republic.

Obverse

Depicts a detail of the sculpture The Goddess Rome (Dea Roma) in the centre. Above, arched and adjusted to the edge of the core appears the inscription ROME CAPITAL and the dates 1871 • 2021, which correspond respectively to the year of the institution of Rome as the capital of Italy and the year of issue of the coin. In the left-field appear the initials RI, an acronym for the Italian Republic, and R, identification of the Mint of Rome, while in the exergue the initials UP, of the author, appear stylized Uliana Pernazza.

The Goddess Rome by Angelo Zanelli is located at the centre of the Altar of the Fatherland, a large votive altar dedicated to the Italian nation, made in honour of the first king of unified Italy, Victor Emmanuel II in the Venice Pizza in Rome.

Inside an aedicule with gold mosaic background, the goddess stands proud wearing a Roman peplos and goat’s skin, a helmet and a crown with wolf heads, a spear in her right hand and the statuette of a winged Victory in her left. This iconography derives from depictions of Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, who was called Minerva in the Roman world.

ROMA CAPITALE • 1871 • 2021 •
RI
R
UP

Reverse

A geographical map of Western Europe spans the outer ring and inner core on the right side of the coin. The inscription 2 EURO is superimposed over the map of Europe, with the numeral “2” located in an open field representing the eastern Atlantic Ocean.

12 stars are located on the right side of the outer ring, with six stars atop the map of Europe and six stars below it; six vertical stripes cut across the inner core of the coin, visually connecting the upper and lower star segments.

Luc Luycx, a designer at the Royal Belgian Mint, designed the Euro’s common reverse; his initials, LL, are seen on the right side of the design, just under the “O” in “EURO.”

2 EURO
LL

Edge

The sequence "2 ★" repeated six times alternately upright and inverted

2 ★ 2 ★ 2 ★ 2 ★ 2 ★ 2 ★

2 Euro

150th Anniversary of the Establishment of Rome as the Capital of Italy

KM#
Characteristics
Type Commemorative Issue (Circulating)
Material Bi-Metallic
Ring Cupronickel
Center Nickel Brass
Weight 8.5 g
Diameter 25.75 mm
Thickness 2.2 mm
Shape round
Alignment Medal
Mint
Italian State Mint and Polygraphic Institute (IPZS)

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