1 Quattrino - Benedict XIII

Benedict XIII — Pietro Francesco Orsini — was elected in 1724 after reportedly refusing the papacy twice. His reign is remembered less for monetary policy than for his Dominican austerity and his catastrophic reliance on the corrupt Cardinal Niccolò Coscia, who effectively ran the Curia's financial affairs during these years. The Bologna mint operated under Papal authority but with considerable local administrative independence, and quattrini from this period reflect the chronic copper debasement that plagued small-denomination Papal coinage throughout the early eighteenth century.

Benedict XIII died in 1730; Coscia was subsequently tried and imprisoned by his successor.