The monetary decline of a dominion. The reforms of the last Scaligeri lords

The lordship over Verona and Vicenza by the three last members of the Scaligeri family is examined through monetary policy and the reform of the offices in charge of the mint. At the end of Cansignorio’s government, a new authority was attributed to the administration in order to boost silver coin production. When Cansignorio’s sons Bartolomeo II and Antonio became governors, new coinages were made to effectively represent the refined characteristics of the Della Scala dynasty as well as to promote economic exchanges through coins which could be more easily used in transactions. In the final period of Antonio’s administration there was a further growth of the financial offices of Verona and Vicenza but they were unable to make good use of the potential of the mint activity in order to finance the rising military costs. Following the defeat of the Scaligeri family and the occupation of the Visconti family the currency lost all connection to the effective Veronese currency and was transformed into a ‘fossil currency’: it would continue to exist in this form even after the Venetian conquer.

Keywords: Scaligeri, Visconti, monetary policy, coins of Verona, money of account, fossil currency

Federico Pigozzo, Crepuscolo monetario di una signoria: le riforme degli ultimi scaligeri in "SOCIETÀ E STORIA " 140/2013, pp 265-282, DOI: 10.3280/SS2013-140002