1 Bolognino - Enrico VI

Bologna began striking its own silver coinage following the city's assertion of communal independence, and the bolognino became so widely trusted across northern Italy that it served as a model for imitations struck by surrounding cities and lords throughout the thirteenth century. The type's longevity — over a century of essentially unchanged production — reflects deliberate monetary conservatism, not administrative inertia. Merchants needed a coin they could recognize instantly across markets from Ferrara to Florence.

The attribution to Enrico VI is a numismatic convention rather than a precise historical claim; the type name references imperial authority acknowledged in the coin's legend, not active Hohenstaufen involvement in Bolognese minting.