Italy's Pocket Gallery

Euro banknotes are shared across the euro area. Italy gave every national coin denomination a different work, selected from architecture and art spanning the Middle Ages to Futurism.

Meet the EUR

Paper money

Show me the coins!

Euro notes follow an easy architectural colour ladder - grey €5, red €10, blue €20, orange €50, green €100 and yellow €200 - wherever you spend them in Europe.

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EUR Euro

5

5

EUR banknote

5 EUR

Design clue Classical bridge Round stone arches evoke Europe's Classical period. The bridge is imaginary.

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5 EUR banknote · Classical gateway

EUR Euro

10

10

EUR banknote

10 EUR

Design clue Romanesque bridge Heavy round arches point to Europe's Romanesque period. The bridge is imaginary.

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10 EUR banknote · Romanesque arch

EUR Euro

20

20

EUR banknote

20 EUR

Design clue Gothic bridge Pointed arches and tracery place this bridge in Europe's Gothic period.

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20 EUR banknote · Gothic windows

EUR Euro

50

50

EUR banknote

50 EUR

Design clue Renaissance bridge Balanced proportions and classical details mark the Renaissance period.

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50 EUR banknote · Renaissance window

EUR Euro

100

100

EUR banknote

100 EUR

Design clue Baroque and Rococo bridge Curves and ornament evoke Europe's Baroque and Rococo architecture.

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100 EUR banknote · Baroque gateway

EUR Euro

200

200

EUR banknote

200 EUR

Design clue Iron and glass bridge Rivets and latticework recall 19th-century iron and glass engineering.

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200 EUR banknote · Iron and glass

EUR Euro

500

500

EUR banknote

500 EUR

Design clue Modern cable-stayed bridge Fan-shaped cables evoke 20th-century engineering. The bridge is imaginary.

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500 EUR banknote · Modern glass and steel Older series · no longer issued

The euro banknote theme is imagined European architecture rather than real monuments: windows and gateways move from classical to modern styles, while bridges on the reverse suggest connection. Cash by Country artwork is an original, simplified interpretation and is not legal tender.

The eight-room gallery

Architecture begins the sequence

The three copper-coloured coins travel from the octagonal Castel del Monte to Turin's Mole Antonelliana and Rome's Colosseum. They turn the smallest change into a three-city architecture tour.

The middle values move through art history

Botticelli's Venus occupies 10 cent, a dynamic sculpture by Futurist Umberto Boccioni occupies 20 cent, and the equestrian Marcus Aurelius on the Campidoglio occupies 50 cent.

Leonardo and Dante anchor the euros

Leonardo's study of ideal human proportions makes EUR 1 instantly recognisable. EUR 2 uses Raphael's portrait of Dante from the Vatican Palace, placing literature on the highest regular value.

Shared notes, local masterpieces

An Italian EUR 20 note is the same banknote used across the euro area. Use our original illustrations for denomination and colour, then check real notes by touch, watermark, security thread and hologram.