ITALY. Venezia (Venice). Coinage struck during the Siege of Cyprus, 1570-1571. Bisante 1570 (Bronze, 26 mm, 1.89 g), Famagusta. PRO REGNI CYPRI PRESSIDIO / •1570• The lion of St. Mark. Rev. VENETORV / FIDES. INVI/OLABILIS. / BISANTE / .I. in five lines, small angel above. KM 11. Malefakis 58.1. Montenegro 11. Minor flan faults and light scratches, otherwise, very fine.


Sultan Selim II’s army invaded Cyprus in June 1570. Despite overwhelming odds, Famagusta resisted the Ottoman forces for nearly a year, while Nicosia fell quickly.

During the prolonged siege, the Venetian commander and Captain of the Kingdom of Cyprus, Marcantonio Bragadin, issued emergency copper bezants to pay his troops, promising they would later be redeemed for proper gold coinage once the conflict ended. Ultimately, the vastly outnumbered Venetian forces were forced to surrender in August 1571. Although Ottoman commander Lala Mustafa Pasha initially guaranteed Bragadin, the garrison, and the civilian population safe passage to Christian lands, he broke these terms during the surrender ceremonies. Bragadin was imprisoned and brutally flayed alive; his skin was stuffed with straw and sent to Constantinople as a trophy. In 1580, the Venetian sailor Girolamo Polidori daringly recovered Bragadin’s skin from the Ottoman arsenal in Constantinople. It was returned to Venice with honors of a hero. Initially the skin was preserved in the church of San Gregorio and later interred at the Basilica di San Giovanni e Paolo, where it still remains today.

The copper Bisante of Venetian Cyprus stands as a stark material witness to these events. Struck under siege conditions, it was not a normal circulating coin but an emergency issue, reflecting both the financial desperation of the defenders and Bragadin’s effort to maintain morale and discipline among his troops. Intended to be redeemed in gold after victory - a promise never fulfilled - the Bisante embodies the tragedy of Famagusta: a symbol of loyalty, sacrifice, and a lost Venetian Cyprus.