1 Scudo - Bonifacio Ferrero

The Abbey of Fruttuaria, founded in 1003 near San Benigno Canavese in Piedmont, held minting rights as a feudal privilege — a concession that became increasingly anomalous by the sixteenth century as territorial princes consolidated monetary authority. Bonifacio Ferrero served as commendatory abbot, a system by which secular or clerical outsiders were granted abbacies for political reasons rather than monastic ones. His appointment reflected Savoy-era ecclesiastical patronage rather than any conventional religious role.

CNI II#1 designates this as the primary catalogued type for the series. Surviving examples are exceptionally rare; the abbey's monetary output during this period was minimal and almost entirely absorbed by local transactions.