1 Testone - Ludovico XII d'Orléans

Asti's status as a French-controlled enclave in northern Italy made it one of the few Italian mints authorized to strike in the name of a French royal claimant during this period. Louis XII held the city through inheritance from his Visconti grandmother, Valentina, and used its mint to assert his dynastic claims over Milan decades before he actually invaded. The testone denomination itself was a Milanese innovation of the 1460s — a large silver coin heavy enough to displace the older grosso system entirely.