1 Denaro

Siena's earliest coinage emerged in the late twelfth century as the commune asserted fiscal independence from both episcopal authority and imperial oversight — a necessary step for a city whose banking families were already operating across northern Italy. The denaro piccolo was the workhorse of this system, changing hands in market stalls and tax registers long before Siena's grosso made the republic a name in international finance.

Billon of this period varies considerably in silver content, and Sienese issues are no exception — debasement was a tool of municipal finance, not a sign of decay.