1 Ducato - Clement VII

1527 is the year of the Sack of Rome — May 6th, when mutinous Imperial troops under Charles V stormed the city and held Clement VII effectively prisoner in Castel Sant'Angelo for seven months. Any silver struck in Rome that year was produced in a city under siege, occupation, or immediate threat of both. Clement had spent years playing France against the Habsburgs and miscalculated badly.

Whether this piece was struck before or after the sack is unknown, but surviving examples from this issue are scarce precisely because the Roman mint's activity collapsed almost entirely after May.