Gregory XIII is remembered almost exclusively for the 1582 calendar reform that bears his name, but his pontificate also coincided with a period of aggressive monetary reorganization across the Papal States. The Bologna mint, operating under papal authority but with a long tradition of civic coinage, produced this bianco under a framework that was already being challenged by the spread of larger silver thalers from the north.
The bianco denomination itself was a legacy unit struggling for relevance by the 1570s, increasingly squeezed between petty billon issues below and the growing scudo above.
Gregory XIII is remembered almost exclusively for the 1582 calendar reform that bears his name, but his pontificate also coincided with a period of aggressive monetary reorganization across the Papal States. The Bologna mint, operating under papal authority but with a long tradition of civic coinage, produced this bianco under a framework that was already being challenged by the spread of larger silver thalers from the north.
The bianco denomination itself was a legacy unit struggling for relevance by the 1570s, increasingly squeezed between petty billon issues below and the growing scudo above.