San Marino

2015

Commemorative coin

The 750th anniversary of the birth of Dante Alighieri (1265-2015)

Official Journal of the European Union

The design by Annalisa Masini shows a portrait of Dante, taken from a fresco by Botticelli. At the right of the portrait, the inscription ‘DANTE’ on a vertical axis. At the right of the inner centre, the name of the issuing country ‘SAN MARINO’ in semi-circle. Between these two inscriptions, the mint mark ‘R’, the years ‘1265’ and ‘2015’ and the initials of the artist ‘AM’. The lettering style used in identifying the nation and the coin's subject was inspired by lettering in the first copies of the Divina Commedia (Dante’s Divine Comedy). The coin’s outer ring depicts the 12 stars of the European flag.

Additional information

Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) was an Italian poet and philosopher. With his "Divine Comedy", written about 1307-1320 in Old Italian (or Tuscan), he overcame Latin, which had dominated until then, and led Italian to a literary language. He is regarded as one of the most famous authors of Italian literature and of the European Middle Ages. The design of the coin for his 750th birthday was based on a painting by Sandro Botticelli created in 1495. It shows the poet in profile, a laurel wreath on his head and next to it a stylised spine with majuscules superimposed, forming the name "DANTE", borrowed from one of the first editions of the "Divina Commedia".

Edge lettering

Designer