The Bank of Italy has been Italy’s central bank since it was created by merger in 1893.
The institution was formed through the merger of four existing issuing banks under legislation passed in 1893. It later became the country’s central monetary authority, with its headquarters in Rome.
The Bank of Italy issues euro banknotes within the Eurosystem, implements decisions made by the European Central Bank, and contributes to banking supervision and financial stability. Italy adopted the euro for electronic transactions in 1999 and euro cash in 2002.
A common mix-up is treating the Bank of Italy as the sole institution setting euro-area monetary policy. That responsibility belongs to the Eurosystem, made up of the European Central Bank and the national central banks of euro-area countries.