Portrait of Pope Paul II Barbo (obverse) and (reverse)

This medal is part of a series of four oval medals that celebrated Pope Paul II as the “Founder of Italian Peace.” Though his renewal of the Italian League in 1468, Paul aspired to maintain peace among the independent Italian states and evade foreign incursion. In previous years, infighting between Florence, Venice, Ferrara, Milan, Naples, and Bologna had left the peninsula vulnerable to Turkish invasion.