5 Baiocchi - Pius VI

Struck at Ascoli during an extraordinarily turbulent moment for the Papacy, these coins were produced as French Revolutionary forces under Napoleon effectively dismantled papal temporal authority across central Italy. The Treaty of Tolentino in February 1797 had already stripped Pius VI of significant territories and an enormous indemnity; the Ascoli mint was one of several provincial facilities scrambling to maintain a functional copper coinage as the administration around it collapsed.

Pius VI died a French prisoner in Valence in August 1799, making this among the final issues of his pontificate.