The tornesel, tornesol, or Italian: tornese was a silver coin of Europe in the Late Middle Ages and the early modern era.
See also: History of coins in Italy. It took its name from the French: denier tournois, the French: [[French denier|denier]] of Tours. Marco Polo referred to the tornesel in recounts of his travels to East Asia when describing the currencies of the Yuan Empire.[1] His descriptions were based on the conversion of 1 bezant = 20 groats = tornesel.[1] The Italian: tornese was a subunit of the Neapolitan, Sicilian, and Two Sicilies ducats.