9 Paoli

The Repubblica Romana of 1798 was a French-backed revolutionary state that displaced Pius VI after Napoleon's forces entered Rome. These small-denomination assignat-style notes were issued almost immediately, partly to finance the new government and partly as a deliberate symbolic rupture — papal monetary authority replaced overnight by republican paper. The 9 paoli denomination is an awkward, transitional unit, reflecting the old papal monetary system rather than any decimal reform.

The republic itself lasted less than seventeen months before Neapolitan forces restored papal control in late 1799. Most of these notes were repudiated and destroyed. Pio Persiani signed as treasurer.