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Its sovereign assets, from securities to banks, have often been the subject of market crises in recent years, but Italy is currently enjoying a positive financial climate thanks to the Central Bank's large gold reserves, when the price of the precious metal has reached records.
Italy's gold reserves reflect decades of determined financial security policies after rebuilding reserves damaged by the Nazis in the 1940s and a stance that has resisted calls to sell them during repeated crises and in cases of rising public debt, Reuters news agency reports.
The Bank of Italy now ranks among the world's three largest national gold reserves, trailing only the United States and Germany. Its 2,452 tons of gold are worth about $300 billion at current prices, or about 13 percent of last year's national output, according to Reuters estimates.
As gold is still seen as a safe haven of last resort by many Western countries, central banks around the world are once again accumulating reserves of this metal at a time of reshaping the world order.
The Bank of Italy currently owns more than 871,000 gold coins weighing more than four tons.
Gold made up nearly 75 percent of Italy's official reserves at the end of last year, a percentage significantly higher than the eurozone average of 66.5 percent, according to data from the World Gold Council.
About 1,100 tons of gold are stored in a vault beneath the Central Bank's headquarters in Rome's Palazzo Koch, near the Colosseum. A similar amount is held in the United States, while smaller amounts are stored in Britain and Switzerland.
Italy is also one of the world's largest exporters of gold jewelry. Production is concentrated in Alessandria, Arezzo and Vincenza. Luxury brands such as Bulgari, Buccellati and Damiani enjoy global recognition.
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