102947 |  ITALY. Papal States. Pope Pius IX bronze Medal.

102947  |  ITALY. Papal States. Pope Pius IX/Opening of the Albano-Ariccia Bridge bronze Medal. Issued 1854 (82mm, 227.44 g, 12h). By Giuseppe Bianchi & Niccolò Cerbara in Rome.

 

PIVS IX PONT MAX, bust left, wearing zucchetto, mantum, and decorative pallium; all within ornate border of oak and laurel wreaths // PROVIDENTIA OPTIMI PRINCIPIS / ARICIAE CLIVI PERICVLO SVBLATO, view of the bridge of Ariccia with the three rows of arches; the Lazio hills in background; in foreground, between fields and paths, the old road that climbs and leads to Ariccia; in three lines in exergue, VIA INGENTI MOLITIONE ARCVBVS IMPOSITA / COMMEANTIVM SECVRITATI / ANNO MDCCCLIV. Edge: A few light marks, otherwise plain.

 

Mazio 699; Bartolotti IX, 9. Choice Mint State. Deep brown surfaces, with a great lustrous and glossy nature. Given its large-format status, extremely rare in this advanced state of preservation, with no scuffs, distracting marks, or bruising.

 

Architecture in general plays a heavy role in the medallic art of Pius IX, given the number of restorations done to religious edifices during his rather lengthy reign. In the case of this medal, the opening of the Albano-Ariccia Bridge, which was built between 1847 and 1853, and is considered one of the most important engineering works of the 19th century.

 

Pius IX presided over the longest verified papal reign in history, serving as pope from 1846 to 1878, and also saw the loss of papal dominion over the states (parts of central mainland Italy) to which it laid claim for centuries. Following Italian unification under the King of Sardegna (Sardinia), Vittorio Emanuele II, the peninsula began to coalesce under a single regnum, leaving the rule of Pius in question. When Rome fell, then taking a new role as the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, Pius became trapped, literally and figuratively, and considered himself a prisoner in the Vatican—a standoff between the papacy and the kingdom that would last for nearly 60 years. In 1929, and brokered by then-Pope Pius XI and leader of the Fascist Party, Benito Mussolini, the Lateran Treaty ended the longstanding feud between the two factions over the sovereignty of the papacy within the kingdom. The treaty gave the Vatican City to the papacy—a separate city-state headed by the pope within the city of Rome itself—as well as compensation to the papacy by the Italian government for the loss of the territory within the former papal states.

 

Upload: 3 March 2025.