1 Picciolo - In the name of Frederick II

Pisa's long use of Frederick II's name on its coinage long after his death in 1250 was a deliberate political assertion — the city clung to Ghibelline identity through successive generations of factional warfare, and invoking the great Hohenstaufen emperor carried real ideological weight even two centuries on. The practice was unusual enough that later scholars initially misattributed some specimens to his actual reign.

The nearly two-century attribution window reflects genuine uncertainty in the series; CNI XI distinguishes at least four die groupings across that span.