{{Short description|Silver coin from Europe}} [[Image:Denier tournois 1270.jpg|thumb|right|300px|A ''{{lang|fr|denier tournois}}''; inscription reads:<br>+PHILIPVS•REX / +TVRONVS•CIVI[TATI]S.]]
The '''tornesel''', '''tornesol''', or '''{{lang|it|tornese}}''' was a silver coin of Europe in the Late Middle Ages and the early modern era.
==History== {{see also|History of coins in Italy}} It took its name from the '''''{{lang|fr|denier tournois}}''''', the {{lang|fr|denier}} of Tours. Marco Polo referred to the tornesel in recounts of his travels to East Asia when describing the currencies of the Yuan Empire.<ref name="YULE">Henry Yule. [http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/y#a5823 ''The Travels of Marco Polo: The Complete Yule-Cordier Edition'']. Third edition (1903), revised and updated by Henri Cordier. Plain Label Books. p. 1226-27. ({{ISBN|1603036156}})</ref> His descriptions were based on the conversion of 1 bezant = 20 groats = 133⅓ tornesel.<ref name="YULE"/> [[Image:Two Sicilies 1849 coin - half tornese (reverse).jpg|thumb|right|120px|The reverse of a Two Sicilies ½-{{lang|it|tornese}} coin]] The ''{{lang|it|tornese}}'' was a subunit of the Neapolitan, Sicilian, and Two Sicilies ducats.
==See also== *History of coins in Italy
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Historic Italian currency and coinage}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Medieval history of Italy Category:Medieval currencies Category:Coins of Italy Category:Obsolete Italian currencies Category:Silver coins
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