1 Cavallotto First Phase

The cavallotto emerged from a monetary reform imposed on Genoa by the Doge Andrea Doria following the city's political realignment with Charles V in 1528 — the same constitutional overhaul that restructured the Republic into the form it would broadly retain for two and a half centuries. The coin's name derives from the small horse featured in the imperial arms, a direct visual acknowledgment of Genoese subordination to Habsburg interests.

MIR 190/1 distinguishes this first phase from later emissions by die characteristics that were revised as the type evolved through the 1530s.