1 Scudo d'Oro - Pius IV

Pius IV — born Giovanni Angelo Medici, though from a minor Milanese branch entirely unrelated to the Florentine dynasty — was elected in December 1559 after a long conclave deadlocked by French and Spanish factions. Bologna, as one of the wealthiest legations of the Papal States, operated its own mint with considerable autonomy, and issues from this first year of his pontificate are among the scarcer dated scudi of the series. Pius IV is best remembered for reconvening and concluding the Council of Trent in 1563, but the political maneuvering that preceded his election shaped the character of his early coinage.