1 Teston – Ferrara

In 1717, the currency situation in the Duchy of Ferrara was defined by its recent and politically fraught integration into the Papal States. Following the death of the last Este duke in 1707 and the subsequent devolution of the territory to Pope Clement XI in 1708, Ferrara ceased to be an independent minting authority. By 1717, the local monetary system was in a state of transition and confusion, as Papal currency—primarily the scudo and the giulio—was being imposed to replace the old Este coinage. This created a complex dual circulation where older, often debased, Ferrarese coins still circulated alongside the new Papal issues, leading to frequent disputes over exchange rates and the intrinsic value of coins in everyday transactions.

The economic backdrop was one of significant strain. The War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714) had only recently concluded, leaving the region, including Ferrara, with trade disruptions and fiscal exhaustion. Furthermore, the catastrophic Great Northern War was raging in the Baltic, severely disrupting the grain trade upon which Ferrara and much of northern Italy relied. This scarcity drove up prices and increased the demand for reliable, high-value currency, exacerbating the instability caused by the mixed monetary stock. Authorities struggled to enforce fixed tariff values for the myriad of coins in use, from local copper quattrini to foreign silver pieces, leading to widespread clipping, counterfeiting, and hoarding of good silver.

Consequently, by 1717, the primary monetary challenges in Ferrara were not of its own making but were administrative and systemic. The Papal government faced the difficult task of standardizing the currency in a depressed economic climate, needing to recall old coinage while ensuring an adequate supply of new, acceptable money. This situation created hardship for merchants and the populace, who faced uncertainty in every transaction, and reflected the broader difficulties of integrating a formerly independent duchy into the Papal monetary zone, a process that would take decades to fully complete.