34 Scudi

The Monte di Pietà in Rome was one of the oldest pawnbroking institutions in Europe, founded in 1539 to provide low-interest loans to the poor as an alternative to usurers. By 1797, the institution was operating under extraordinary pressure: Napoleon's Italian campaign had gutted the Papal States financially, and the Treaty of Tolentino signed in February of that year forced Pius VI to pay a ruinous indemnity of 30 million livres tournois to France. These cedole — the assignat-style paper obligations issued by the Monte — were a direct response to that fiscal hemorrhage.

The denomination of 34 Scudi is irregular enough to suggest this note was issued against a specific pledged valuation rather than as a round-currency instrument.