2 Baiocchi - Pius VI

Ancona's mint was reactivated specifically to supply copper coinage to the Papal States' Adriatic territories, operating intermittently through the late eighteenth century under direct papal authorization. By 1796, that arrangement was under severe strain — French forces under Napoleon had already extracted a forced indemnity from Pius VI via the Armistice of Bologna in June of that year, stripping the papacy of cash, artworks, and political authority in one stroke. Coinage from Ancona in this year effectively circulated into an economy already being dismantled by military occupation.