1 Quadrupla - Urban VIII

Urban VIII — born Maffeo Barberini — was the pope who condemned Galileo in 1633, the year before this coin was struck. His pontificate was also marked by the disastrous Castro War and accusations that he had systematically stripped bronze from the Pantheon's portico to cast cannon for Castel Sant'Angelo, prompting the Roman witticism quod non fecerunt barbari, fecerunt Barberini. Papal gold of this weight and fineness was as much a diplomatic instrument as currency, routinely presented as gifts to foreign courts.