Italy Wins Best Contemporary Event Coin at 2020 COTY Awards
Italy’s 70th Anniversary of the Italian Constitution 5 Euro won the “Best Contemporary Event Coin” category at 2020 Coin of the Year (COTY) Awards. The coin, dated 2019, includes a female representation of Italia, wearing a cloak featuring the colors of the country’s flag.
The Best Contemporary Event Coin honors historically important events in the past 99 years. The Constitution of the Italian Republic was enacted by the Constituent Assembly on December 22, 1947 and came into force on January 1, 1948. As described by the Italian Mint, Zecca di Stato, Istituto Polografica e Zecca dello Stato, “It is a fundamental charter that perfectly combines rights and duties. Freedom and democracy have been thus guaranteed in our Country throughout the last seventy years to the advantage of social, economic and institutional development.”
Luciana De Simoni designed the award-winning coin. The obverse features a seated allegory of triumphant Italy, draped in the Italian flag with green and red enamel. The image was taken from a fresco by Cesare Maccari in Maccari Hall, Palazzo Madama, Rome. The text “REPUBBLICA ITALIANA” surrounds the primary design. The name of the designer “L. DE SIMONI” is inscribed in the lower right.
The reverse side depicts a representation of the constitution in the form of a book, which is set in a frame, dominated by the inscription “SEI LIBERA SII GRANDE” (“you are free be great”). Drawn from the fresco by Cesare Maccari reproducing the allegory of triumphant Italy, the reverse also features an allegorical composition made of a circle and a square, symbols of Perfection and Knowledge. The composition is completed by the star of the Italian Republic and a detail from the fresco by Cesare Maccari “Humanities and the Arts.” In the middle, the value “5 EURO” is inscribed. The book included the inscription ”COSTITUZIONE ITALIANA” and the dates “1948 2018”, i.e. the year of the Italian Constitution came into force and that of the coin’s issue respectively. Below, in the middle, an “R” is inscribed, identifying the Mint of Rome.
The Italian Constitution Euro is comprised of .925 Silver. It weighs 18 g and measures 32 mm in diameter. The maximum mintage is 5,000 coins. The coin is still available on the Italian Mint’s website.