There is no realm of the political civilian life, of science, of literature nor of fine arts in which Tuscany has not contributed significantly to the construction of Western civilization. Names such as Dante, Giotto, Machiavelli, Galileo and Luca Pacioli, just to name a few, are well-known around the world and there is no need to point out the innovation and development that they brought to the cultural growth of the west. Tuscany also stands out as to numismatics, for having proposed models, consolidated experiences and, ultimately, for having offered excellence to the world. Examples are the Etruscan minting, unique for its features and first indigenous nonGreek coinage in the west, the municipal minting of the eleventh century, an offspring of the birth of the first town autonomies, that flourished in Tuscany, the appearance and spread throughout Europe of the gold florin of Florence, first medieval coin of the west to have gained importance across the continent.

The strong roots of the independent townships gave way within Tuscany to a set of republics, often in fierce competition amongst themselves and against other territories, which hindered the rise of families or hegemonic dynasties that could have become local monarchies. Beyond Florence, that kind of development, as testified by the coinage, occurred for example in Pisa, one of the famous four maritime republics, in Lucca, that proudly kept its autonomy as a republic until the Napoleonic period, and in Siena, that challenged the Florentine predominance and fell only in the second half of the sixteenth century, after Florence was already under the reign of the Medici dynasty.

For Florence and for Tuscany, that monarchy was not only a switch to a different political system, but a real turning point. The end of a long past and the beginning of a new period of history for them. Their coinage, once again a faithful window into the political and institutional situation above it, clearly highlighted that discontinuity and soon the constant uniformity of types – jealously kept throughout the centuries – gave way to portraying the effigies of some grand dukes and many other images, usually religious, but, as we will see, quite often pertaining to economic matters. So the effigy of Cosimo, the first Grand Duke of Tuscany, was placed on a coin which on its back side had the typical depiction used on the coins of Siena, which had just been conquered: a panoramic view of the city under the protection of the Virgin Mary in memory of the battle of Montaperti, in which, three centuries earlier, the Sienese Ghibellines had held back the onslaught of the Florentine Guelphs.

After Cosimo, his son Francesco ruled. He did everything but govern his country, died in mysterious circumstances and was replaced by Ferdinando, his younger brother that had been designated to represent the family in an ecclesiastical career. He became grand duke while retaining the title of Prince of the Church, as clearly shown in the Piastra in which the sovereign is portrayed in cardinal’s vestments, paired with a back side with the symbolic elements of his dual position and references to the familiar Medici coat of arms with the balls.

After giving up his position as Cardinal, Ferdinando married Christina of Lorraine and concentrated on managing the state, starting a period of peace, prosperity and support for the commercial maritime traffic with the Orient, particularly supported by the enormous improvement of the Leghorn harbor. During his reign, the House of Medici reached its zenith and began its slow decline towards the end of its dynasty after more than a century. Ferdinando was succeeded by his son Cosimo II. Cosimo II had precarious health and was under the strong influence of his mother, who jeopardized the state finances by continually making large donations to religious orders and charitable institutions. But Cosimo II, in his short reign, managed to leave a lasting impression as a Medici, as a patron of Galileo and for having continued the intense activity in the port of Leghorn. He died when he was just 30 years old and as to coin collecting, his image stands out on the Piastra.

When Cosimo II died, Ferdinando II started his reign at just eleven years old; because of his age his mother Maria Maddalena of Austria and his stillliving grandmother, Christina of Lorraine, acted as joint regents. Having a weak character, Ferdinando II never practically wielded his power, was unable to take it out of the hands of the clergy and instead spent his time reorganizing the enormous wealth accumulated by his family in the previous centuries, particularly the collections of art works, which actually increased during its reign due to the contributions from his wife Vittoria della Rovere, the last heir of the Dukedom of Urbino.
The fall of the House of Medici ended with the last two Mediceans: Cosimo III and Gian Gastone. Cosimo III, educated by the Jesuits in the obscurantist climate of Florence, reigned for all of 53 years, during which he acted based on religious integralism, arrogance and vanity, with open scorn for the needs of his subjects. Gian Gastone, as heir to the throne, had not hidden his homosexuality. When he became grand duke, and it being apparent that he would not have had descendants, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany was seen by the European powers as a pawn for the throne-bargaining that characterized the eighteenth century.

Notwithstanding the last Mediceans’s lack of capability to rule their state, the Grand Duchy grew economically due to their port in Leghorn, that became increasingly important for the maritime commercial traffic of the eighteenth century, so much as to need the coinage of a specific silver coin, which was made with the same weight and content of the German Thaler, that had become the reference coin for trade in the east. The coin was called the Tollero, a dialectal deformation of the written German word Thaler, anticipating what was to happen shortly after in America with the Dollar, another obvious deformation of the word Thaler. Both of the last Medici are depicted on Tolleri coins of Leghorn. The back of the coin with Cosimo III has views of the Leghorn harbour. The coin with Gian Gastone shows details of its fortification.
The Medici family, a dynasty originating from the country, became prominent not for nobility granted by popes or emperors, but for the success they achieved in trade and financial activity, making the family become a symbol of the Renaissance. The Medici produced three popes, in particular Leo X and Clement VII, an innumerable series of cardinals and two queens of France, Catherine and Marie De Medici, that both wonderfully held the position they acquired, just as other ladies of the family, which became brides to the nobility across Europe. As to coin collecting, the grand dukes, popes and queens from the House of Medici also left us memories in the form of medals, including a spectacular gallery of portraits made by the best engravers of the period. But that’s another story.

By Carlo Barzan