António Manoel de Vilhena served as Grand Master of the Order from 1722 until his death in 1736, a tenure marked by aggressive fortification of Malta — most visibly the construction of Fort Manoel, completed in 1723 and named in his honor by the Order's Council. The zecchino denomination itself was directly modeled on the Venetian ducat, a deliberate choice by the Knights to align their coinage with the dominant gold trading currency of the Mediterranean.
The Order struck its own gold at remarkably consistent fineness throughout the eighteenth century, functioning as a sovereign minting authority despite controlling only the island of Malta and its harbor fortifications.
António Manoel de Vilhena served as Grand Master of the Order from 1722 until his death in 1736, a tenure marked by aggressive fortification of Malta — most visibly the construction of Fort Manoel, completed in 1723 and named in his honor by the Order's Council. The zecchino denomination itself was directly modeled on the Venetian ducat, a deliberate choice by the Knights to align their coinage with the dominant gold trading currency of the Mediterranean.
The Order struck its own gold at remarkably consistent fineness throughout the eighteenth century, functioning as a sovereign minting authority despite controlling only the island of Malta and its harbor fortifications.