5 Lire

The Governo Provvisorio di Venezia — the short-lived republic proclaimed by Daniele Manin in March 1848 — issued these notes under acute financial pressure. Venice had expelled the Austrian garrison and needed immediate liquidity to fund its defense; the municipal monte di pietà and local institutions were pressed into service as the financial backbone of a revolution that most of Europe assumed would collapse within weeks.

The official stamp served as the primary authentication device, a minimal but practical measure for a government printing money in the middle of an uprising. Venice held out against the Austrian siege until August 1849 — longer than almost anyone expected — before surrendering following famine and cholera.