Italy, whose sovereign assets from bonds to banks have so often been the subject of market crises in recent years, is currently enjoying a windfall as the central bank's vast gold reserves track record-high prices.
The country's bullion stockpile reflects decades of determined safeguarding after it rebuilt reserves plundered by the Nazis in the 1940s, and a stance that has seen it resist calls to sell through repeated crises and as its national debt soared.
The Bank of Italy now sits on the world's third-largest national gold stockpile, behind only the U.S. and Germany. Its 2,452 metric tons of gold are worth an estimated $300 billion at current prices, roughly 13% of 2024 national output, Reuters calculations show.
WARTIME SEIZURES SHAPE PEACETIME POLICY
Italy's love affair with bullion goes back millennia, with the Etruscans mastering the technique of fusing gold beads well before ancient Rome. Under Julius Caesar, the aureus gold coin became the monetary cornerstone of the Roman Empire, and centuries later, the fiorino became as influential in medieval Europe as the dollar is today.
The country's more recent gold policy was shaped by its wartime experience, when Nazi forces aided by Italy's own fascist regime seized 120 tons of its reserves. By the war's end, these had dwindled to around 20 tons.
During its postwar "economic miracle", Italy became an export-driven economy and saw a surge in foreign currency inflows, notably U.S. dollars. Some of these, according to the Bank of Italy's website, were converted into gold.
Its holdings had climbed to 1,400 tons by 1960, including three-quarters of the seized bullion which it was able to recover in 1958.
THE FAMILY SILVERWARE
The oil shocks of the 1970s ushered in further global uncertainty, which in Italy meant social unrest and frequent government changes seen as risky by investors.
"The extreme monetary instability led the central banks of Western countries to buy gold, the ultimate symbol of financial solidity," Stefano Caselli, dean of the SDA Bocconi School of Management in Milan, told Reuters.
To offset budget holes left by capital flight, Rome used 41,300 ingots from its gold reserves as collateral for a $2 billion loan from Germany's Bundesbank in 1976.
But unlike Britain or Spain, Italy has refused to sell off gold during financial downturns, retaining its reserves even through the 2008 debt crisis.
"Gold is like the family silverware, it's like grandpa's precious watch, it's the last resort in times of crisis, any crisis that undermines international confidence in the country," Salvatore Rossi, former deputy governor of the Bank of Italy, wrote in his 2018 book 'Oro' (Gold).
The country's bullion stockpile reflects decades of determined safeguarding after it rebuilt reserves plundered by the Nazis in the 1940s, and a stance that has seen it resist calls to sell through repeated crises and as its national debt soared.
The Bank of Italy now sits on the world's third-largest national gold stockpile, behind only the U.S. and Germany. Its 2,452 metric tons of gold are worth an estimated $300 billion at current prices, roughly 13% of 2024 national output, Reuters calculations show.
WARTIME SEIZURES SHAPE PEACETIME POLICY
Italy's love affair with bullion goes back millennia, with the Etruscans mastering the technique of fusing gold beads well before ancient Rome. Under Julius Caesar, the aureus gold coin became the monetary cornerstone of the Roman Empire, and centuries later, the fiorino became as influential in medieval Europe as the dollar is today.
The country's more recent gold policy was shaped by its wartime experience, when Nazi forces aided by Italy's own fascist regime seized 120 tons of its reserves. By the war's end, these had dwindled to around 20 tons.
During its postwar "economic miracle", Italy became an export-driven economy and saw a surge in foreign currency inflows, notably U.S. dollars. Some of these, according to the Bank of Italy's website, were converted into gold.
Its holdings had climbed to 1,400 tons by 1960, including three-quarters of the seized bullion which it was able to recover in 1958.
THE FAMILY SILVERWARE
The oil shocks of the 1970s ushered in further global uncertainty, which in Italy meant social unrest and frequent government changes seen as risky by investors.
"The extreme monetary instability led the central banks of Western countries to buy gold, the ultimate symbol of financial solidity," Stefano Caselli, dean of the SDA Bocconi School of Management in Milan, told Reuters.
To offset budget holes left by capital flight, Rome used 41,300 ingots from its gold reserves as collateral for a $2 billion loan from Germany's Bundesbank in 1976.
But unlike Britain or Spain, Italy has refused to sell off gold during financial downturns, retaining its reserves even through the 2008 debt crisis.
"Gold is like the family silverware, it's like grandpa's precious watch, it's the last resort in times of crisis, any crisis that undermines international confidence in the country," Salvatore Rossi, former deputy governor of the Bank of Italy, wrote in his 2018 book 'Oro' (Gold).
