Écu au soleil - Francis I of France

Francis I occupied Genoa intermittently through his Italian campaigns, and this issue belongs to the brief French administration of the city following the collapse of the short-lived Genoese republic under Antoniotto Adorno. The French crown operated the Genoese mint under royal authority during these years, producing écu au soleil coinage consistent with the domestic French type but struck with local dies — a practical assertion of administrative control rather than any deliberate monetary reform.

Genoa fell back out of French hands in 1528 when Andrea Doria defected to Charles V, ending this mint's production under Francis entirely. The two-year window makes genuine examples from this issuer considerably scarcer than their Paris or Lyon counterparts.