The economy is increasingly digital, and fewer and fewer banknotes are being printed in Europe - and therefore in Italy as well. Last year, 687 million banknotes came out of the plant on Rome's Via Tuscolana designed by renowned architect Pierluigi Nervi in the 1960s, 26% less than the previous year. Italian cash production accounts for 19% of the euro area total. On the other hand, banknotes recognized as counterfeit in Italy are increasing: non-authentic notes jumped to more than 121,000 in 2024 from 104,669 in 2023. The 20- and 50-euro denominations turn out to be the most counterfeit ones. In short, on the one hand the Mint's production collapses, and on the other Italy is confirmed among the countries most affected by counterfeiters. Across Europe there are about ten sites producing cash. Banknotes are issued 8% by the ECB and the remaining 92% by the various national central banks, based on their respective shares in the capital of the European Central Bank. In 2023, the Bank of Italy had realized, against the 4.2 billion banknotes printed throughout the Eurosystem, about 925 million banknotes, a figure that today - in the cashless era - has become unrepeatable.