1 Ducat - Leo X

Leo X — born Giovanni de' Medici — was elected pope in March 1513 and almost immediately reasserted direct papal control over Ancona, a port city on the Adriatic that had repeatedly tested the limits of its nominal submission to Rome. The right to strike gold coinage there was both a revenue instrument and a political declaration. Leo's pontificate was also the one that drove Martin Luther to nail his theses to the Wittenberg door in 1517, partly in outrage at the aggressive indulgence sales Leo authorized to fund Saint Peter's Basilica.

Ancona's ducats from this period are scarce survivors — the city's mint operated intermittently and under close curial supervision.