26 Scudi

The Sacro Monte della Pietà di Roma was not a bank in any modern sense but a papal pawnbroking institution, founded in 1539 to provide the Roman poor with interest-free loans secured against personal property. By the late eighteenth century it had long functioned as a quasi-deposit bank issuing fedi di credito — credit certificates — that circulated as de facto currency among merchants and creditors in Rome. The 26 Scudi denomination is an odd figure, almost certainly reflecting an actual pledged or deposited sum rather than a round monetary unit designed for general circulation.

1796 is a charged date. French forces under Bonaparte were already dismantling Papal control of northern territories, and within two years the Roman Republic would be declared and the institution's operations thrown into chaos.