150th Anniversary of the Death of Alessandro Manzoni

A portrait of Alessandro Manzoni with a quill and the opening lines of his masterwork 'I Promessi Sposi'. The issuing state 'CITTÀ DEL VATICANO' frames the portrait in a semicircle from left to right. Below the design, Manzoni's signature, with the years '1873◦2023' below that. The mint mark 'R' appears to the left; the name 'G. TITOTTO' of designer Gabriella Titotto to the right.

Alessandro Manzoni was born in Milan in 1785 and ranks among the most important writers of the Italian Risorgimento. His life's work was deeply shaped by Catholicism: after a religious reawakening around 1810, he combined literary creation with moral and theological reflection. His historical novel "I Promessi Sposi" (The Betrothed), which appeared in its definitive form between 1827 and 1842, is still regarded today as a foundational text of the modern Italian literary language. Manzoni worked deliberately toward a linguistic unification of Italian, taking Florentine as his standard model — a project whose cultural and political impact reached far beyond literature. As a senator of the Kingdom of Italy and an honorary citizen of Rome, he embodied the intellectual unity of the young nation-state.

The Vatican honoured Manzoni even during his lifetime as a thinker who reconciled religious conviction with civic enlightenment. Pope Pius IX received him in a personal audience in 1868. Manzoni died on 22 May 1873 in Milan from the effects of a fall — his death triggered nationwide mourning, and Giuseppe Verdi composed his Requiem as a personal tribute. On the 150th anniversary of his death in 2023, the Vatican commemorated with a 2-euro coin an author whose work and language policy helped shape the foundations of Italian national literature.