The piastra was the most common silver coin of the mainland Kingdom of Sicily, also known as the Kingdom of Naples

Kingdom of Naples

The Kingdom of Naples, comprising the southern part of the Italian peninsula, was the remainder of the old Kingdom of Sicily after secession of the island of Sicily as a result of the Sicilian Vespers rebellion of 1282. Known to contemporaries as the Kingdom of Sicily, it is dubbed Kingdom of...

. In order to distinguish it from the piastra issued on the island of Sicily, it is referred to as the "Neapolitan piastra" as opposed to the "Sicilian piastra

Sicilian piastra

The piastra was the distinct currency of the Kingdom of Sicily until 1815. In order to distinguish it from the piastra issued on the mainland Kingdom of Sicily , it is referred to as the "Sicilian piastra" as opposed to the "Neapolitan piastra". These two piastra were equal but were subdivided...

". These two piastra were equal but were subdivided differently. The Neapolitan piastra was divided into 120 grana (singular

Grammatical number

In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....

: grano), each of 2 tornesi (singular: tornese) or 12 cavalli (singular: cavallo). There were also the carlino worth 10 grana and the ducato worth 100 grana.

In 1812, the Neapolitan lira

Neapolitan lira

The lira was the currency of the mainland part of the Kingdom of the Sicily, known as the Kingdom of Naples, between 1812 and 1813. The currency was issued by Joachim Murat, who claimed the title of "King of the Two Sicilies" but only controlled the mainland part of the kingdom. Consequently, the...

 was introduced by the occupying French in an attempt to decimalize the Nepolitan currency units. However the attempt failed and the decimalization was limited to changing the value of the cavallo to one tenth of a grano. After restoration of Bourbon

House of Bourbon

The House of Bourbon is a European royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty . Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre and France in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma...

 control, a single currency was issued for the whole of the Two Sicilies, see Two Sicilies piastra

Two Sicilies piastra

The ducat was the main currency of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies between 1816 and 1860. When the Congress of Vienna created the kingdom merging the Kingdom of Naples and the Kingdom of Sicily, the ducat became at par a continuation of the Neapolitan ducat and the Sicilian piastra issued prior to...

. This new piastra was subdivided in the same way as the Neapolitan piastra.

Coins

In the late 18th century, coins circulated in denominations of 3, 4, 6, 9 and 12 cavalli, 3, 5, 8 and 10 tornesi, 10 (carlino), 20 (tarì), 60 (mezza piastra) and 120 grana (piastra) and 2, 3 and 6 ducati. On occasion also a 50 and 100 grana silver pieces had been struck, but not in the 18th century. The cavalli and tornesi denominations were struck in copper, with the grana denominations up to the piastra struck in silver and the higher denominations in gold.

In 1799, the short-lived Neapolitan Republic

Parthenopaean Republic

The Parthenopean Republic was a French-supported republic in the territory of the Kingdom of Naples, formed during the French Revolutionary Wars after King Ferdinand IV fled before advancing French troops...

 issued copper 4 and 6 tornesi, and silver 6 and 12 carlini. The restored kingdom resumed coin production, issuing many of the earlier denominations, plus copper 4 and 6 tornesi. In 1810, a gold 40 franchi

French franc

The franc was a currency of France. Along with the Spanish peseta, it was also a de facto currency used in Andorra . Between 1360 and 1641, it was the name of coins worth 1 livre tournois and it remained in common parlance as a term for this amount of money...

coin was issued, a prelude to the introduction of the lira three years later.