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80 Scudi
| Issuer | S. Monte della Pietà di Roma |
|---|---|
| Year | 1797 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Letterpress-printed cedola in black on plain paper, with an ornate rectangular border enclosing the issuing institution's name S. MONTE DELLA PIETÀ DI ROMA in large display type. The denomination numeral 80 appears in a decorated cartouche at the top centre, and the body text states the promise to pay Scudi Romani Ottanta at ten giulj per scudo to the bearer, valid across the Papal States. Handwritten manuscript entries including the registrar's name, registro number, and numero are present, along with several handwritten signatures and a seal impression at lower left. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Plain paper reverse printed in black with the denomination repeated in a grid-like pattern across the entire surface, alternating between the numeral 80 and the word OTTANTA in bold letterpress type within decorative brackets, serving as a denomination underprint. Faint manuscript annotations and ink stamps are visible, consistent with circulation handling. |
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| Comments |
The Monte di Pietà in Rome was one of the oldest pawnbroking institutions in Europe, founded in the fifteenth century under papal patronage to provide credit to the poor at controlled rates — a direct counter to usury. By the late eighteenth century it had evolved into something closer to a deposit and lending bank, and its fedi di credito, of which this is one, functioned as transferable credit instruments rather than currency in the modern sense. Ownership changed by written endorsement on the reverse, not by simple hand-to-hand exchange.
1797 is a charged date: French forces under Bonaparte were consolidating control across northern Italy, and the Papal States were under severe financial pressure following the Treaty of Tolentino, which stripped Rome of territory and an enormous indemnity. Notes from this institution in this year reflect that fiscal strain directly.