1 Quattrino - Pius VII Papal year, small keys

Pius VII's early pontificate was consumed almost entirely by Napoleon. By 1802, the Peace of Lunéville had nominally restored papal temporal authority, but French pressure on Rome remained unrelenting — the Pope was already being maneuvered toward the Concordat signed that same year, which redrew the relationship between the Church and the French state at considerable cost to papal independence. Small copper issues like this quattrino were among the first coins struck under his name, the "small keys" variety distinguishing it from later die revisions made as the mint adjusted its working punches.