'A brilliant distillation of Italian and European economic history of the late Middle Ages.'
Sergio Tognetti, Archivio Storico Italiano

'The book is convincing and substantive: a culmination and a solid basis for research on the florin and medieval monetary history'
Andrea Papi, I quaderni del MAES

'Stefano Locatelli’s The Florentine Florin is a masterful account of one of the most researched (but still relatively misunderstood) historical processes that marked the passage from the central to the late Middle Ages in Latin Europe—the minting of the gold florin (fiorino) in Florence from the early 1250s and its success as a widely-recognised currency... Locatelli is able to flesh out the elements of the historical context that made Florence an economic powerhouse, something that has long been regarded as nothing short of a mystery; thanks to him, that mystery is far less obscure now.'
Lorenzo Tabarrini, Journal of Medieval History

'By reviewing and meticulously analysing the available literature, he highlighted the limitations of previously accepted explanations and provided a nuanced and convincing picture of the success of this fundamental currency in the medieval economy.'
Philippe Lardin, Le Moyen Âge

'Locatelli’s thesis merits the highest praise. Throughout the volume, Locatelli does an admirable job of outlining scholarly debates and carefully defining the terms he employs. The scholarly apparatus, drawn from archival and written sources, is sophisticated, and economic historians moving forward will need to engage seriously with his revisionist emphasis on the role of political institutions, human agency, and additional variables in monetary phenomena beyond the standard focus on the macro-economic effects of international trade.'
William Caferro, Italian Studies

'Locatelli turns to a rich range of other sources which document the handling of gold by Florentine merchants, and he lays out in a convincing manner the absolutely central role they played not merely in the procurement of gold [...] The extrapolation of the relevant monetary information from the official Angevin documents pertaining to the kingdom of Sicily in chapter 3 is a major contribution in its own right.'
Julian Baker, The Numismatic Chronicle

'Locatelli has devoted a highly readable book to this coinage... The success of the florin emerges vividly from the sources assembled here and brought so impressively to life. Above all, one thing becomes particularly clear: monetary history is political history.'
Hubert Emmerig, Deutsches Archiv für Erforschung des Mittelalters (DA)

Introduction
1 The pre-history of the florin
2 The florin and the merchants
3 The florin and the Crown
4 The florin and the papacy
Conclusion
Appendix
Bibliography
Index