1 Scudo – Papal States

Following the restoration of the Papal States in 1815 after the Napoleonic Wars, the currency situation was characterized by profound disarray and monetary plurality. The French occupation had swept away the old papal monetary system, replacing it with the franc, and left behind a legacy of severe debt and depleted treasuries. Upon return, Pope Pius VII faced a fragmented economic landscape where French coins, old papal issues from before 1796, and various regional and foreign currencies all circulated simultaneously, causing confusion and hindering trade.

The immediate papal response was conservative and aimed at reasserting sovereign control. In 1816, a monetary edict was issued to re-establish the scudo as the official unit of account, divided into 100 baiocchi. The government began minting new silver scudi and subsidiary coins, but these were insufficient in quantity to unify the monetary space. Crucially, the papal authorities did not demonetize the widely circulating French francs, granting them legal tender status at a fixed exchange rate. This created a de facto bimetallic system, but one reliant on the stability of foreign coinage.

Consequently, the post-1815 period was one of unstable transition rather than reform. The coexistence of multiple coinages, coupled with the state's chronic budgetary deficits and reliance on debased copper coinage for everyday transactions, led to persistent problems. Exchange rates between the various metals and coin types fluctuated, causing commercial inconvenience and facilitating arbitrage. This complex and fragile monetary regime, reflective of the broader administrative and economic challenges of the restored Papal States, would remain a point of contention until more forceful unification attempts later in the 19th century.