1 Sesino - Filippo Maria Visconti

Filippo Maria Visconti, the last male heir of the Visconti dynasty, inherited Milan in 1412 after arranging the assassination of his brother Gian Maria — a detail that colors everything issued under his name. His reign was defined by near-constant warfare against Venice, Florence, and the shifting condottiere alliances he perpetually hired and then turned against. Small billon fractions like the sesino bore the full weight of funding that warfare at the retail level, circulating through markets and pay stations across Lombardy for three and a half decades.

On Filippo Maria's death in 1447 without a male heir, Milan briefly became the Ambrosian Republic before Francesco Sforza seized the duchy in 1450.