(sold for $44.0)

1256, Italian States, Mantua (Bishopric). Silver Denaro Scodellato Coin. aXF!

Mint Place: Mantua Condition: About XF! Mint Period: 1150-156 Reference: CNI 2/4, MIR 361. Denomination: Denaro Scodellato Diameter: 15mm Weight: 0.65gm Material: Silver

Obverse: Cross within inner circle. Legend: + MANTVE

Reverse: Omega symbols above pellet, surrounded by three letters (E/'P/S) within inner circle. Legend: + VIRGILIVS

The Diocese of Mantua (Latin: Dioecesis Mantuana) is a see of the Catholic Church in Italy. It was erected in 804, and is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Milan. The diocese has produced one Pope and (Latin) Patriarch of Constantinople, and two cardinals.

Mantua  is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the province of the same name. Mantua is surrounded on three sides by artificial lakes, created during the 12th century, as the city's defence system. These lakes receive water from the Mincio River, a tributary of the Po River which descends from Lake Garda. The three lakes are called Lago Superiore, Lago di Mezzo, and Lago Inferiore ("Upper", "Middle", and "Lower" Lakes, respectively). A fourth lake, Lake Pajolo, which once served as a defensive water ring around the city, dried up at the end of the 18th century. The area and its environs are important not only in naturalistic terms, but also anthropologically and historically; research has highlighted a number of human settlements scattered between Barche di Solferinoand Bande di Cavriana, Castellaro and Isolone del Mincio. These dated, without interruption, from Neolithic times (5th–4th millennium BC) to the Bronze Age (2nd–1st millennium BC) and the Gallic phases (2nd–1st centuries BC), and ended with Roman residential settlements, which could be traced to the 3rd century AD. In 2017, Legambiente ranked Mantua as the best Italian city for the quality of the life and environment.