1 Scudo d`oro del sole - François I

François I struck this issue during his occupation of Milan following the French victory at Marignano in 1515, a battle he would describe for the rest of his life as his greatest personal triumph. The scudo del sole takes its name from the sun emblem adopted by the French crown under Charles VII — not a Milanese device, but a deliberate imposition of French royal identity onto the occupied duchy's coinage.

The series was cut short by the Battle of Bicocca in April 1522, after which French forces lost Milan to the combined armies of the Habsburgs and the Sforza. Issues tied to this narrow window of French control rarely appear outside specialist collections.