1 Lira - Pius IX Medium bust

By 1866, Pius IX had already lost the Romagna, Umbria, and the Marches to Piedmont-Sardinia in 1860, leaving the Papal States reduced to Lazio and a thin strip of territory defended only by French troops. This coin was struck at Rome in that diminished, embattled condition — a papacy minting silver not from confidence but from the practical necessity of maintaining a functioning economy in a state that most of Europe had already written off. The French garrison withdrew in 1866 under the terms of the September Convention, briefly leaving Rome exposed before diplomatic pressure forced their return.