1/2 Doppia - Pius VI

Pius VI's reign began with genuine optimism but collapsed into one of the most humiliating episodes in modern papal history — his arrest by French forces in 1798 and death in captivity at Valence the following year. The Bologna mint operated under his authority throughout a period of mounting fiscal pressure, as the papacy struggled to finance both administration and the artistic patronage for which Pius remains better known than his politics.

Bologna's gold output during this series was never heavy. The city had its own civic pride and a long minting tradition that predated papal control by centuries.