The Mint Museum of Rome

This week on The Italian Radio Hour - Welcome to 2024! Wishing you a year full of abundance and prosperity. Some of you might have eaten lots of lentils for good fortune on New year's day but would you be curious to learn what goes into the process of making money? Today, another fascinating conversation with Egle Tringali and Valentina Bonaccorsi, curators of the MINT Museum of Rome who told all about the history and the process of making money. The origins of the Mint Museum of Rome derive from the Pontifical Mint of the Capital, founded at the end of the eighteenth century. In 1824 the Pontifical Cabinet of Medals was established, then acquired by the Government of the Kingdom of Italy in 1870 and officially established by the Italian Republic in 1958. In 1978, when the State Mint was transferred to the Istituto Poligrafico, its precious numismatic finds became part of the latter's heritage. The extraordinary collection of the Museum includes more than twenty thousand works, including medals, coins, wax models and minting objects. Among these works, in particular, it is possible to see: - coins (proofs and designs), coins of Italian and foreign states ranging from the Middle Ages to the present; in the "Lira Gallery" my guide explained also "faulty" designs that became collectors' items; - the first coin designed by a woman (and the subsequent ones): - medal collection (works by some of the most renowned and esteemed artists of all times); - a selection of wax models for medals and cameos, including the 425 candles made by Benedetto Pistrucci, the Roman engraver who created the model of the gold sovereign with St. George and the dragon, still in use today at the British Royal Mint. In the Bookshop, you will be able, if you want, purchase special edition coins. Visit Il Museo della Zecca: https://www.museozecca.ipzs.it/