1 Ducat - Ferdinand I

Ferdinand Gonzaga ruled Mantua from 1612 after the death of his brother Francesco IV, having previously been a Cardinal — he formally renounced his ecclesiastical rank to assume the dukedom. His tenure coincided with the opening phase of the Thirty Years' War, and Mantua's position as an Imperial fief made navigating Habsburg expectations a constant political calculation. The duchy's gold ducat coinage of this period maintained the weight standard of the Venetian ducat, a deliberate monetary alignment that kept Mantuan gold acceptable across northern Italian trade networks.

Ferdinand died without legitimate heirs in 1626, triggering the War of the Mantuan Succession within four years.