Marcello De Cecco (1939-2016) has been a prominent Italian economist and economic historian, who stands out for his scholarship and originality in combining Political economy, Economic history and the History of economic thought. As reconstructed in the present work, he deserves to be particularly remembered for his seminal study on the international monetary system between 1870 and 1914 (De Cecco, 1974) and for his important contributions to the analysis of Italy's economic development and monetary and financial history (e.g. De Cecco, 1990).