Doppio Ducato - Ludovico II

Ludovico II ruled Saluzzo as a vassal caught perpetually between the competing pressures of Savoy, France, and Milan — a geopolitical bind that shaped nearly every political and financial decision of his thirty-year marquisate. The doppio ducato was an assertion of monetary ambition unusual for a territory of Saluzzo's modest size, effectively doubling the standard ducato weight to produce a prestige piece more suited to diplomatic exchange than everyday commerce.

The French connection proved decisive: Ludovico's alignment with the Valois court following Charles VIII's 1494 Italian campaigns brought him temporary security but long-term dependency. These coins likely circulated as much across the Alps as within the marquisate itself.