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Ambrosino - Luchino and John Visconti
| Issuer | Milan, Duchy of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1345-1349 |
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| Value | 32 Soldi (4⁄15) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin, Latin (uncial) |
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| Reverse description | Saint Ambrose, patron of Milan, depicted enthroned facing front in episcopal vestments, holding a crozier in his left hand and raising his right hand in the gesture of benediction. The figure is rendered in a stylized Gothic manner consistent with Milanese ecclesiastical iconography of the period. The saint's identity and his association with the co-ruler Giovanni Visconti — who held the archbishopric of Milan — are confirmed by the surrounding inscription. Decorative stops punctuate the legend in the field around the enthroned figure. |
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| Additional information |
Issued jointly under Luchino and Giovanni Visconti, who ruled Milan together following the death of Azzone Visconti in 1339, this gold ambrosino belongs to one of the more politically awkward co-lordships of 14th-century Lombardy. Luchino held military and administrative control while Giovanni, as Archbishop of Milan, provided ecclesiastical legitimacy — an arrangement that worked largely because neither fully trusted the other. Luchino died in 1349, almost certainly poisoned, with his wife Isabella among the suspected conspirators.
The ambrosino denomination itself traces to earlier Milanese communal coinage, consciously revived by the Visconti to anchor their authority in the city's pre-imperial monetary tradition.