Identifying a 1668 Italian coin

Steve writes: Help! I have an Italian coin in F condition that I’m having trouble identifying. It’s a silver coin from 1668 about the size of a nickel. On one side it has a crown with three coats of arms and the legend “HESPERIDVM.DECVS” On the other side is a portrait and the legends “.ARETH.PROLE.ATLANTI.” (there may be a letter before the A.) I think it’s a Luigino, but could you identify where it was minted? Thanks! Steve

Though Italian coinage is not the Coin Doc’s strongest area, a little detective work may help us to guess where this coin was minted. I glad that you included the legends, they often give you clues to what you’re looking for. Fortunately, Latin was the international language for many hundreds of years, so it was the idiom of choice for coin legends.

The first legend says: HESPERIDUM. DECVS or roughly, “To the honor (glory?) of Italy”. So at least we know the approximate geographical area. The other legend is abbreviated for space and design reasons making our job a little harder. The first word, ARETH most likely refers to Arethusa, a fountain in the island of Ortygia at Syracuse. Syracuse is modern day Sicily. PROLE most likely refers to proletarius or roughly “people”, though in ancient times it referred to citizens of the lowest classes who served the state by being the father of children. ATLANTI-by the ocean. -Good chance your coin was minted in Sicily.