1 Ducato - Roman Senate

The Roman Senate resumed striking gold ducats in the fourteenth century in deliberate imitation of the Venetian ducat — itself the dominant trade coin of the Mediterranean — borrowing its weight standard and near-pure gold fineness to ensure acceptance in international markets without needing Rome's own commercial reputation to back it. The Senate's monetary authority during this period was fitful at best, constrained by the absence of the papacy during the Avignon exile and the chaos of the Western Schism, which left Rome's civic institutions unusually autonomous but chronically underfunded.

The MIR 178/2 attribution places this among the scarcer senatorial emissions, distinct from the more common later strikes.