Obverse on the Italian 1000 Lire

Does anyone know who or what is represented on the obverse of the 1000 Lire coin? Is that a wall or fort that appears as the crown on the portrait?

Hi Sean, which Italian 1000 Lire coin are you referring to?

Citação: "SeanCoinMan"​Does anyone know who or what is represented on the obverse of the 1000 Lire coin? Is that a wall or fort that appears as the crown on the portrait?

​There were over a dozen types of 1000 Lire coins minted in Italy between 1970 and 2001... so you will have to clarify which one of these you are referring to specifically:
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/index.php?mode=simplifie&p=1&l=italie&r=1000+lire&e=italie&d=&ca=3&no=&i=&v=&m=&a=&t=&dg=&w=&u=&f=&g=&c=&tb=y&tc=y&tn=y&tp=y&tt=y&te=y&cat=y

I'm going assume you were asking about the 1970 "Rome Capital Centenary" 1000 Lire; since it is a 1000 lire coin with a crown on an obverse portrait; to answer your question based on that, the "crown" is simply a crown; the image is of the Roman goddess of peace, Concordia, whose depiction is taken from an older Roman coin.

Maybe this one ...
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces713.html

From that page is the engraver ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Cretara
and her 'allegorical portrait' is called 'Towered Italy'. No actual person or city -
just imagination of the engraver. Possibly.

EDIT: I also have a French medallion with that design ...

Italy turrita, which is one of the Italian patriotic symbols, has been widely depicted in the artistic, political and literary fields over the centuries. Its most classic aspect, which derives from the primordial myth of the Great Mediterranean Mother and that was definitively specified at the turn of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries by Cesare Ripa, wants to transmit symbolically the royalty and nobleness of Italian cities.

@ZacUK Good catch, I was puzzled thinking about what he could possibly mean by "wall" and "crown". Other than the 1869-70 and 1930s Republic coins from Spain I haven't seen any coins with a crown resembling a wall.

Truthful and interesting explanations aside, I think this coin shows the ugliest portrait of the history of Italy. It looks like she has been beaten up by some criminal, and then has been bandaged for the wounds, where, on the top, you can still see some square-shaped bumps.
The city towers should be a crown, yet they do not show sufficient height above the head. The traditional feminine veil should be long, elegant and wavy, but it looks like only a bandage.
Finally, the eyes and the nose appear devoid of sinuosity in the lines... too unreal, artificial.
I still remember when I was a child the first sight of this coin shocked me. I cataloged it intuitively as 'painful', 'ugly', 'losing'.
Here I show better artistic products to portray 'bella Italia turrita'.

Here any info :
https://it.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corona_muraria

Citação: "CassTaylor"​@ZacUK Good catch, I was puzzled thinking about what he could possibly mean by "wall" and "crown". Other than the 1869-70 and 1930s Republic coins from Spain I haven't seen any coins with a crown resembling a wall.

There is Tyche that appears on some ancient coins :
https://www.coinworld.com/news/world-coins/2014/05/Portraits-of-Tyche-Fortuna-protectress-of-cities-found-on-ancient-coins.all.html

Same kind of crown, I guess it's a modern equivalent ?

@Cyncos thanks for the link, now that I think about it I have seen at least a few other (modern) coins with that same kind of motif.

I think San Marino has headresses that resemble city walls. I am not clear, but my thought was that they represented an ideal of a city, and that is why city walls were used as the crown.