7 Scudi

The Monte della Pietà di Roma was a charitable lending institution founded in 1539, originally conceived to provide low-interest loans to the Roman poor as an alternative to predatory moneylending. By the late eighteenth century it had evolved into a quasi-banking body operating under direct papal oversight, and its printed fede di credito — credit certificates of which this is one — functioned as a circulating paper currency within the Papal States long before any central emission authority existed in Rome.

The 7 scudi denomination is an odd figure by any standard, almost certainly reflecting the face value of specific pledged collateral rather than a round monetary unit designed for general commerce. These instruments lived between the pawnbroking ledger and the banknote, and that ambiguity defines them.