It’s a complex mix of individual elements, surrounding a coloured focal point in the centre. We’ll let Powercoin describe it; “At its centre, an arch perfectly frames a view of St. Peter’s Basilica, one of the largest buildings in the world and the headquarters of the Catholic Church. In the top-left, a tiny green parrot is perched among the floral arrangements, a very common bird in Rome. Below, the Colosseum is depicted with incredible detail, along with a tiny tree representing Rome’s vast green areas. The inscription “VENI, VIDI, VICI” lies beneath the Colosseum, a famous phrase by Julius Caesar. At the bottom, Nero’s Heart is shown, a mysterious heart-shaped stone in St. Peter’s Square. On the right side, the emblematic Capitoline she-wolf with Romulus and Remus is depicted, with the inscription: “MMXXIV” – the year of issue in Roman numerals.”

It’s an extravagant design, so much packed into its 50 mm diameter, but it’s all kept cohesive by that layered high-relief. We’d have swapped the Colosseum for the Arch of Constantine as a better, if less iconic fit, perhaps, but we really are splitting hairs here, as it’s a stunning coin, and a fine summation of Rome’s architectural history. The view through the arch of St Peter’s is a fine focal point that holds it all together.

The obverse, which we suspect will be common to the series, features a topographically textured map of Italy, complete with the islands of Sicily and Sardinia, both with fine heritages of their own. The whole face has a grid of latitudinal and longitudinal lines incused into it, and arcing around most of the border is a laurel wreath. The effigy of King Charles III, along with the issue inscriptions, is ringfenced into a neat little concave area. The coin will come boxed with a Certificate of Authenticity, and is available to order from today. A fine debut. We’d love to see Herculaneum/Pompeii on the list of future releases.