1 Soldino

The soldino was Genoa's workhorse small change across a long stretch of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, and the span covered by this issue reflects the republic's deliberate policy of maintaining consistent low-denomination coinage through successive doge administrations rather than reissuing with each change of leadership. Billon content in Genoese minor coinage deteriorated noticeably during this period as silver supplies tightened under the strain of financing Spanish imperial debt — Genoa's banking houses were the primary creditors of the Habsburg crown, and the republic's own circulating coinage suffered accordingly.