1/2 soldo - Siro d'Autriche prince de Correggio

Siro d'Austria was a legitimized son of the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II, granted the principality of Correggio in 1616 — one of the smaller imperial fiefs of northern Italy wedged between Parma and Mantua. His coinage rights were largely a political courtesy, and the billon issues produced under his name circulated in a region where Gonzaga and Este influence made local small change an act of jurisdictional assertion as much as economic necessity. The long date range reflects a modest, intermittent production rather than sustained minting activity.