60 Baiocchi - Pius VI Wreath

Pius VI's final years were catastrophic. Napoleon's Italian campaigns forced humiliating concessions — the Treaty of Tolentino in February 1797 stripped the papacy of Avignon, the Legations, and 30 million livres in indemnities. These billon issues were struck against the backdrop of a treasury being systematically gutted, which almost certainly accounts for the debased silver content. When French troops occupied Rome in February 1798 and declared the Roman Republic, Pius was taken prisoner and died in French captivity at Valence in 1799.