This 5% annuity certificate issued in Florence in 1878 is the oldest document in the Italian series of this collection and one of the oldest in the entire collection. In 1878, Italy had been unified for only 17 years (1861), and Rome had been the Italian capital for only 8 years (1870). Florence, former capital of the Kingdom of Italy from 1865 to 1871, retained an important administrative role. The young Italian State had inherited the debts of the former pre-unification states and had to raise considerable funds to finance its industrial, railway and military development. This 5% annuity certificate for 1,000 lire, with its number 622243, bears witness to a considerable issue volume. Through its date of 1878 and its place of issue (Florence), this document is a unique testimony to the financial construction of the young Kingdom of Italy, a flagship piece of 19th-century Italian scripophily.