3957) Santorre Di Santarosa, Greece: "Philhellene Silver Coin Series": Fourth 10 Euro Proof and Colour Coin in the series commemorates the Hero: Date/Year of Coin issue: 08.05.2025:
The Bank of Greece has released the fourth coin in this exceptional numismatic collector series..
Other coins in the series include – Lord Byron, Great Britain (2022), Karl Von Normann – Ehrenfels, Germany (2023) and Charles Nicolas Fabvier, France (2024).
The Header/Banner presents a right facing image of Sanatrosa on the Reverse recreated from an etching by an unknown artist.
Santorre Di Santarosa also remembered as Derossi in Greece was born as Santorre Annibale De Rossi di Pomerolo, Count of Santa Rosa on the 18th November 1783 in the town of Savigliano, the province of Cuneo which was then a part of the Kingdom of Sardinia.
Santarosa was the son of Annibale Derossi, Earl of Pomerolo and lord of Santarosa, a General in the Sardinian Piedmontese army who was himself killed in battle at the battle of Mondovì in 1796.
The family had been recently ennobled by the Sardinian crown but was of moderate means.
As a young man, Santarosa pursued a military career and had already participated in many battles against Napoleon.
In 1808 he was appointed mayor of his hometown and in 1812 assistant prefect of La Spezia, when the Kingdom of Sardinia was annexed to France.
After the French withdrawal in 1814 and the restoration of the House of Savoy, to whom he had pledged earlier allegiance to, Santarosa continued to serve the newly restored government.
However, the conservative policies of King Victor Emmanuel I did not bode well with the liberal sentiments of many of the young and educated sector of his subjects, including Santarosa who were also in support of Italian unification.
Santarosa went on to found a secret revolutionary society called Concordia, ostensibly with the aim of educating about unification and its benefits.
In 1821 he became a leading figure in the Piedmontese revolution of 1821 which overthrew King Victor Emanuel I who was replaced with his younger brother, Carlo Felix.
In the short-lived revolutionary government he served as Minister of War, but after its suppression he was arrested.
Santarosa would have likely died on the scaffold had supporters not rescued him where he was able to escape to France via Switzerland and then to London.
It was in England where he was joined by his wife and their eight children, living an idyllic life in the Nottingham countryside for several months.
Santarosa was destined to meet again with another prominent Piedmontese refugee, Count Giacinto Provana di Collegno who had also been an officer in Napoleon’s army.
It was Provana di Collegno who brought Santarosa into contact with philhellene circles in England and where he made the decision to travel to the emerging nation of Greece to fight alongside its brave freedom fighters.
Santarosa felt an affinity for the cause of the Greek people who he believed had been fighting very bravely for their freedom.
As Greece was also the homeland of Socrates, his sentiment that centuries of slavery had not destroyed their good character and that Greece and its people was a brother nation to the Italians.
Santarosa arrived in the provisional capital city of Nafplion on the 10th December 1824, but only in March 1825 did he receive a response from the Greek authorities and then enlisted as a volunteer in the revolutionary forces.
It was at this time that he had been asked by the Greek provisional government to change his name to Derossi in order to avoid any connections with his previous revolutionary actions, and thus avoid the disapproval of the Holly Alliance and the Great Powers of Britain, France and Russia.
At the suggestion of Anagnostaras, a Greek revolutionary and leading member of the Filiki Etaireia, he was posted to the island of Sphaktiria to reinforce its garrison.
In the battle against the Egyptian forces of Ibrahim Pasha, Ottoman military leader and Khedive of Egypt, Santarosa was killed on the 8th May 1825 during the fierce battle when he was cornered in a cave and refused to surrender.
The island fell to the Ottomans until 1827 after their ultimate defeat by the allied fleet of Britain, Russia and France.
After the recapture of Sfaktiria, the search for the remains of Santarosa was undertaken by his comrade-in-arms and friend Provana di Collegno.
On the 100th anniversary of his death, an official memorial service was held in April 1925 in Sfaktiria and the Monument of Santarosa was erected in honour of this great Philhellene, who fell fighting heroically for Greece.
The Silver Coins:
The 10 Euro Silver Proof & Colour Coins have been minted by the Hellenic Mint at their facilities in Athens on behalf of the Bank of Greece and designed by George Stamatopoulos and Maria Antonatou.
The Reverse side includes a right-facing image of Sanatrosa, recreated from an etching by an unknown artist.
Above and along the decorative border is the text in Latin script "SANTORRE DI SANTAROSA"with the same shown below in Greek "ΣΑΝΤΟΡΕ ΝΤΙ ΣΑΝΤΑΡΟΖΑ".
To the left of Santarosa’s portrait is the distinctive "palmette mintmark" (of the Greek Mint) and to the right, the year of issue, "2025".
The Obverse side features two flags, those of the Greek and Italian nations which are linked together and depicted as if the two nations were destined to come together as magnets.
Centred in the middle of the design is the crest and text of the Hellenic Republic.
Above the primary design is the denomination of the coin "10 EYPΩ" and below is the text made famous by the British poet and fellow Philhellene Percy Bysshe Shelley.
A friend of Byron, he wrote "WE ARE ALL GREEKS" taken from his Lyrical Drama entitled Hellas written in 1821 and the quote in which he reiterated –
"We are all Greeks. Our laws, our literature, our religion, our arts have their roots in Greece."
It is the first time the flag of Italy has been included in the design of a Greek coin.
The specifications of this Coin are:
Denomination Metal Weight Diameter Quality Mintage limit
10 Euro .925 Silver 34.1 g. 40 mm. Proof & Colour 1000
- Available from the 8th May 2025, each coin is encapsulated and presented in a custom hardwood case accompanied with a numbered Certificate of Authenticity (COA).
2) Some ancient coins depicting Greek mythology & history
13) Ancient Greek Theatres, Greece: Hellenic Post has brought out a set of five stamps featuring the Ancient Theatres of Dodona, Nocopolis, Kassope, Amvrakia and Gitana (all in Epirus): Stamp issue date: 08.04.2020
14) "MYRTIS", Greece: A 5 Euro Silver Coin dedicated to an 11 year old girl who was a victim of the Plague of Athens (430-426 BC) issued by the Bank of Greece: Coin issue date: 25.02.2020
Links to some more posts on the Chinese Lunar calendar/Zodiac signs on this Blog:
Rajan Trikha has commented:
ReplyDelete"Very interesting and informative post 👍👍"
Thank you so much, Trikha sahab
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