Masserano was a tiny fiefdom in Piedmont that punched well above its weight in silver coinage during the sixteenth century, exploiting the fragmented sovereignty of the Italian States to mint with considerable autonomy under nominal Savoyard suzerainty. Pierluca II Fieschi — who held Masserano from 1528 until his death in 1547 — issued testons at a moment when the denomination itself was still relatively new to northern Italy, having been popularized by Milan only decades earlier.
The county's mint output from this period is poorly documented, and surviving testons attributable to Pierluca II are genuinely scarce.
Masserano was a tiny fiefdom in Piedmont that punched well above its weight in silver coinage during the sixteenth century, exploiting the fragmented sovereignty of the Italian States to mint with considerable autonomy under nominal Savoyard suzerainty. Pierluca II Fieschi — who held Masserano from 1528 until his death in 1547 — issued testons at a moment when the denomination itself was still relatively new to northern Italy, having been popularized by Milan only decades earlier.
The county's mint output from this period is poorly documented, and surviving testons attributable to Pierluca II are genuinely scarce.