50 000 Lire Benvenuto Cellini

Issued as part of Italy's millennial commemorative program, this coin honors Benvenuto Cellini — goldsmith, sculptor, and one of the more credibly violent figures of the Renaissance. His autobiography documents at least two killings he committed without apparent legal consequence, including the murder of his brother's killer on a Roman street in 1534. The Zecca's choice is not arbitrary: Cellini worked directly at the papal mint under Clement VII and Paul III, cutting dies and producing coins in the very institution that would eventually become the modern Italian state mint.