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| 100Italian lira (1979,FAO celebration) | |
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| Obverse: Young woman with braid facing left andRepubblica Italiana [Italian Republic] written in Italian. | Reverse: Cow nursing calf, face value & date.FAO at bottom andNutrire il Mondo [Feed the world] at top. |
| Coin minted byItaly in 1970s to celebrate and promote theFood and Agriculture Organization. | |
| 1Turkish lira (2009) | |
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 | |
| Obverse:Mustafa Kemal Atatürk withTÜRKİYE CUMHURİYETİ [Republic of Turkey] lettering | |
| 1 Italian lira (1863) | |
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| Obverse:Victor Emmanuel II | Reverse: Coat of arms of theHouse of Savoy |
| 10 Turkish lira (1986) | |
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| Obverse: Mustafa Kemal Atatürk withTÜRKİYE CUMHURİYETİ lettering | Reverse: Face value and year within wreath, crescent moon and star at the top. Crescent opens right. Also an olive branch for symbol of peace and ear for Anatolia. |
Lira is the name of severalcurrency units. It is the currentcurrency of Turkey and also the local name of thecurrencies of Lebanon and ofSyria. It is also the name of several former currencies, including those ofItaly,Malta andIsrael. The term originates from the value of aRoman pound (Latin:libra, about 329g, 10.58 troy ounces) of high purity silver. Thelibra was the basis of the monetary system of the Roman Empire. When Europe resumed a monetary system, during theCarolingian Empire, the Roman system was adopted. The Roman denominationslibrae, solidi, denarii were used (becoming known in England as£sd).
Specifically, this system was kept during theMiddle Ages andModern Age in England, France, and Italy. In each of these countries thelibra was translated into local language:pound in England,livre in France,lira in Italy. TheVenetian lira was one of the currencies in use in Italy and due to the economic power of the Venetian Republic a popular currency in the Eastern Mediterranean trade.
During the 19th century, theOttoman Empire and theEyalet of Egypt adopted thelira as their national currency, equivalent to 100piasters orkuruş. When the Ottoman Empire collapsed between 1918 and 1922, many of the successor states retained the lira as their national currency. In some countries, such asCyprus, which have belonged to both the Ottoman Empire and the British Empire, the wordslira andpound are used interchangeably.
For theTurkish lira, theTurkish lira sign (U+20BA ₺TURKISH LIRA SIGN) is used. TheLebanese lira uses£L (before numerals) orL.L. (after numerals) inLatin andل.ل. inArabic. TheSyrian lira uses£S (before numerals) orL.S. (after numerals) inLatin andل.س in Arabic.
TheItalian lira had no official sign, but the abbreviationsL. andLit. and the symbols₤ (two bars),£ (one bar) were all commonly used.
TheMaltese lira used£M before 1986 andLm thereafter (both as prefixes), though £M continued to be used in unofficial capacities.
TheUnicode system allocatedU+20A4 ₤LIRA SIGN to theItalian lira, to provide compatibility with a legacy HP character set.[1] As withU+00A3 £POUND SIGN, wherethe one-bar and the two-bar versions are treated asallographs and the choice between them is merely stylistic, no evidence has been found that either style predominated in Italy or anywhere else.
TheTurkish lira was introduced in 1844 during theOttoman reign. The Turkish lira is now the currency of Turkey and theTurkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, and used inTurkish-occupied northern Syria.
TheLebanese pound andSyrian pound are both called "lira" (ليرة) inArabic, the national language of both Lebanon and Syria.
The lira was the currency of Italy fromits unification until it was merged into theeuro in 1999.[2] A unit of currency lira had previously been used in some of the states and possessions that became Italy but their values were not necessarily equivalent. (SeeLuccan lira,Papal lira,Parman lira,Sardinian lira andTuscan lira.)
Lira Sign: A separate currency sign U+20A4 lira sign is encoded for compatibility with the HP Roman-8 character set, which is still widely implemented in printers. In general, U+00A3 pound sign may be used for both the various currencies known as pound and the currencies known as lira. Examples include the pound unit in sterling, the historic Irish punt, and the former lira currency of Italy.
