1 Testone - Urban VIII S. Peter seated, oval shield

Urban VIII — born Maffeo Barberini — was elected in 1623 and proved one of the more politically aggressive pontiffs of the seventeenth century, famously backing France against the Habsburgs during the Thirty Years' War while simultaneously fortifying the Castel Sant'Angelo and expanding the Papal Army. The testone was the workhorse denomination of the papal monetary system, and the 1632–33 dating places this coin squarely within the period of the Castro War's buildup, when Urban was quietly accumulating resources and territorial leverage against the Farnese.

Berman 1721 distinguishes at least five die marriages across this type, catalogued under MIR 1705/1–5.