Roman Republic

, 1849

KM 27, PCGS graded MS-64

Rome. DIO E POPOLO, eagle on fasces within wreath; R below. Reverse: REPUBBLICA ROMANA above, *1849* below, 40/BAIOCCHI in two lines in field.

Following the flight of Pope Pius IX to Gaeta, the government of the Papal States was dissolved and replaced by a constitutional Roman Republic on February 9, 1849. Although the new government took its cues from ancient Rome (it was led by a triumvirate composed of Carlo Armellini, Giuseppe Mazzini, and Aurelio Saffi), the character of the constitution was remarkably forward thinking for its day. The Italian nationalism nurtured by the new republic placed it on a collision course with the Austrian Empire. However, on April 25, 1849, Louis Napoleon of France committed forces to restore the Pope. After a siege of Rome that took up most of June, the Roman Republic was dissolved and its leaders withdrew from to continue the struggle from a base in the Apennine Mountains. Pius IX returned to Rome and the Papal throne in the spring of 1850.