Genovino - Simon Boccanegra, 1st reign PRIMVS

Simon Boccanegra became Genoa's first Doge in 1339 after the city's merchant-noble factions agreed — under considerable popular pressure — to abandon the traditional system of rotating foreign podestàs in favor of a permanent native ruler. His first reign lasted only until 1344, when factional opposition forced him into exile. The PRIMVS designation on this genovino distinguishes it from the issues of his restored second reign decades later, making attribution to this specific five-year window possible.

Boccanegra's story later inspired Verdi's 1857 opera. The coin predates that romanticization by five centuries.