Novellara was a tiny Imperial fief in the Po Valley, ruled by the Gonzaga-Novellara branch of that sprawling dynasty — a line perpetually short on resources and obliged to mint small copper currency that mimicked better-known issues to ensure local acceptance. The "Lucca type" denomination deliberately copied the widely trusted quattrino of the Republic of Lucca, a common practice among minor Italian states whose own credit meant little beyond the city walls.
By 1662 the county's minting activity was already in its final decades; the line would die out in 1728, reverting the fief to the Empire.
Novellara was a tiny Imperial fief in the Po Valley, ruled by the Gonzaga-Novellara branch of that sprawling dynasty — a line perpetually short on resources and obliged to mint small copper currency that mimicked better-known issues to ensure local acceptance. The "Lucca type" denomination deliberately copied the widely trusted quattrino of the Republic of Lucca, a common practice among minor Italian states whose own credit meant little beyond the city walls.
By 1662 the county's minting activity was already in its final decades; the line would die out in 1728, reverting the fief to the Empire.