★ First Duke of Milan ★

ITALY, Milan: Gian Galeazzo Visconti (Duke, 1395-1402), AR Grosso, issued 1395-1402. 2.22g, 23mm.
Obv: + GALEA Z • VICECOES • D • MEDIOLANI • ZC’; Snake between G and Z in quatrefoil, one flower in each angle.
Rev: • S • ABROSIV’ • MEDIOLAN; Enthroned St. Ambrose with crosier and whip.
cf. de Wit 3554.

Gian Galeazzo Visconti would succeed in getting Milan elevated to the honour of being a duchy, by paying the emperor some 100,000 florins in 1395. Gian Galeazzo was deeply involved in the various wars embroiling northern Italy on the eve of the Renaissance, with dreams of forming his own kingdom. He would succeed in capturing Verona, Vicenza, Padua, and Piacenza, but his sudden death would see his lands fragment.

This Grosso contains the arms of the Visconti family on the obverse, featuring a snake with a Saracen in its mouth, a feature still found in the crest of the Milanese carmaker Alfa Romeo. This symbolism dates back to the first Crusade, and a family history commissioned by Gian Galeazzo suggested that one of the Visconti ancestors slew a Saracen king before the gates of Jerusalem. St. Ambrose was found on Milan’s coins since the thirteenth century, recognizing the importance of the saint to the city.