56 Bolognini - Alessandro I

Alessandro I Pico ruled Mirandola through one of its most precarious decades — the duchy was perpetually caught between Spanish Milan and the Este of Modena, and coinage of this weight was almost certainly intended as much for diplomatic transactions as for local commerce. The 56 bolognini denomination mirrors the standard of Bologna, a deliberate alignment that facilitated trade across the Po valley.

Alessandro would be strangled on the orders of his own nephew Alessando II in 1637, ending a reign of quiet maneuvering. Coins from his later years are considerably scarcer than his earlier issues.