Italy’s governments tend to survive for rather short amounts of time. The political system had been surprisingly solid – until it collapsed completely due to a corruption scandal. A man who was to guide Italy into the eurozone made use of this situation in 1994: Silvio Berlusconi.
Today, only Swiss coins circulate in Switzerland. But this has only been the case for less than a century. A very rare Swiss 5 franc piece from 1928, which will be auctioned by the Rapp auction house on 6 May 2022, testifies to this shift in monetary policy.
After the Second World War, Italy experienced an economic boom – mainly thinks to the workers from South Italy who slaved away in the north for little money. To this day, the country has not overcome the gap between the rich north and the poor south.
