70 Years of the Italian Constitution

Enrico De Nicola, as provisional head of state, signing the Constitution of the Italian Republic on 27 December 1947. To De Nicola's right stands Prime Minister Alcide De Gasperi; to his left, the President of the Italian Constituent Assembly, Umberto Terracini. In the upper portion of the coin, the inscription "CONSTITUZIONE" and the Italian Republic monogram "RI". In the lower portion of the national side, the inscription "CON SICURA COSCIENZA", the Rome Mint mark "R", and the dates "1948 • 2018" — the year the Italian Constitution came into force and the coin's issue year.

Italy's 1947 constitution is regarded as one of the most progressive postwar constitutions in Europe and was the result of a long process marked by deep conflicts. After the fall of fascism and the end of German occupation, Italy faced the task of creating a democratic new beginning that broke radically with the legacy of the Mussolini regime. The Constituent Assembly, which convened from 1946, brought together representatives of very different political currents — Christian Democrats, Socialists and Communists worked together on a fundamental law that placed human dignity, labour and social justice at its centre. The result is a constitution whose core principles remain unchanged to this day and which is regarded as the foundation of the Repubblica Italiana.

Central figures of this founding moment were Enrico De Nicola as provisional head of state, Prime Minister Alcide De Gasperi, and Umberto Terracini, president of the Constituent Assembly — three men whose political backgrounds could hardly have been more different, and whose joint signing on 27 December 1947 marked the symbolic conclusion of Italy's democratic refounding. De Gasperi, one of the co-founders of the European unification movement, and Terracini, a longstanding anti-fascist and Communist Party politician, exemplify the broad consensus on which the constitution rested. Italy honoured this founding act in 2018 with a 2-euro commemorative coin marking the 70th anniversary of the entry into force of the Costituzione della Repubblica Italiana.