Muraiola of 2 Bolognini - Clement XI Bust left

Clement XI spent much of his pontificate navigating the War of the Spanish Succession, during which Bologna — technically a papal city but geographically squeezed between competing powers — saw its economy badly disrupted. The muraiola was a workhorse denomination, struck in billon precisely because silver was scarce and the papacy needed fractional coinage that could absorb debasement without collapsing public confidence entirely.

Clement's reign also coincided with the Unigenitus controversy of 1713, which consumed enormous political capital in Rome. Coin production in the legations carried on regardless.