ITALY. Stato Pontificio. Pius XI, 1922-1939. 750 ‰ Gold medal 1929 by Ludovico Poliaghi and Enrico Farè, struck by Johnson. 100,5 mm. Lateran treaty. Obv. FIRMATIS ITALORVM - ANIMIS RE PROVISA NVMINE. St Pierre left, Italia right, cherubs at top and left, of St Pierre Cupola in the background. Rev. PIVS XI PONT MAX ET VICT EMMANVEL III REX ITAL / ADIVNCTA OPERA PETRI GASPARRI VIRI EMI / ET BENITO MVSSOLINI DVCIS ITALORVM / REM PVBLICAM SVMMA CIVIVM CONSENSIONE / AMPLIFICATAM AVCTAMQVE ORNATAM RELIGIONE / ANNO MDCCCCXXVIIII CONSTITVERVNT / IOH GALBIATI SCRIPSIT / QVO NIHIL / SANCTIVS. Cherubs holding the treaty, coat of arms of Pius XI and House of Savoy, latin cross between, ornaments in the background. CM 163. AU. 1009.67 g. 3 ex. GEM UNC

LATERAN PACTS: COLOSSAL GOLD MEDAL
Benito Mussolini, President of the Italian Council of Ministers, and Cardinal Pietro Gasparri, Secretary of State of Pope Pius XI, signed the Lateran Pacts on February 11th, 1929. They reconciled the State of Italy with the Vatican, almost fifty years after their break-up, and thus marked a decisive step in the formation of modern-day Italy.
Indeed, until 1861, Italy did not exist as a state. Victor Emmanuel II who was King of Piedmont thus became the first King of Italy, with Turin as his capital. However, Italian unity was still incomplete as Trentino and Veneto were still Austrian.1 Above all, the Papal States, with Rome as the historic capital, was still a sovereign state.2
On March 25th, 1861, Cavour declared that Rome should be the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, for the obvious historical reasons. But he could not attack Rome as the Papal States were protected by the troops of Napoleon III, its ally.
A convention signed at Fontainebleau on September 15th, 1864 between the Kingdom of Italy and the Second French Empire, enacted the withdrawal of French troops, against Italy's agreement not to invade Rome. To seal this renunciation, the agreement imposed Florence as the new capital for the young kingdom.
The Franco-German war of 1870 led to the return to France of the contingent that protected the Pope and his capital. Leading 50,000 Italian soldiers, General Cadorna bombed the walls of Rome, which capitulated on September 20th.3
Pope Pius IX took refuge in the Vatican and Rome officially became the capital of Italy on February 3rd, 1871.
Although the Italian parliament offered the Pope, territories and two billion pounds in compensation, the Pontiff refused all agreements, considering himself a "prisoner" in the Vatican. His successors adopting the same position of victims.
Mussolini's triumph and his march on Rome in 1922 improved relations between the church and state. Indeed, the conservative ideas of fascism appealed to the Church; Mussolini, for example, introduced Catholic education in schools.
Seven years later, this concordance of interests (the dictator needed the support of Catholics) led to the Lateran Pacts. Let us list the main points:/The pope became the ruler of Vatican City, a territory of the Kingdom of Italy officially ceded to the Church. Italy guaranteeing its security.
The Italian state finally paid the Church the indemnities offered in 1871, plus interest, which amounted to four billion liras.
The Catholic religion became the state religion.4
To celebrate the event, a monumental medal was struck by The Stefano Johnson establishments in Milan. Based on the drawings of Ludovico Poliaghi, it was engraved by Enrico Farè.
Obverse: the coat of arms of Pius XI and Victor Emanuel III, flanking a radiant cross, above a parchment that an angel and a putto hold open, for reading:
« PIO XI PONT MAX ET VICT EMMANUEL III REX ITAL ADIVNCTA OPERA PETRI GASPARRI VIRI EMI ET BENITO MVSSOLINI DVCIS ITALORVM REM PVBBLICA SVMMA CIVIVM CONSENSIONE AMPLIFICATA AVTAMQVE ORNATA RELIGIONE ANNO MDCCCCXXVIIII CONSTITVERVNT. IOH GALBIATI SCRIPSIT »5
Below, in a cartouche suspended by a cord: « QVO NIHIL SANCTIVS ».
Reverse: St. Peter, with nimbus is seated on a cloud supported by angels, and Italy, holding a fasces, hands reaching out. Above, two angels bring an olive branch through a divine ray. At the bottom, appearing through clouds, St. Peter's Basilica radiates. One can read around this scene the inscription « FIRMATIS ITALORVM ANIMIS RE PROVISA NVMINE ».
Only three examples of this imposing medal were struck in gold.6 Struck on a planchet weighing more than a kilogram of 18-carat gold, these were certainly offered to the three protagonists named in the obverse: Pope Pius XI, King Victor Emmanuel III, and Duce Benito Mussolini. While it is likely that the first two examples are still in the Italian and Vatican  collections, Mussolini's example has probably suffered a more turbulent fate, the dictator having been deposed, captured, liberated by the Nazis, and then recaptured before being expeditiously executed in 1945.

1 Veneto joined the Kingdom of Italy in 1866 after the Third Italian War of Independence; Trentino would wait until the end of the First World War.
2 Along with Lazio, they stretched from the Adriatic to the Tyrrhenian Sea, cutting Italy in half.
3 Lazio was immediately integrated into the Kingdom of Italy.
4 This concordat ceased after the end of the Second World War and the fall of fascism, when Italy became a secular state.
5 Text written by Monsignor Giovanni Galbiati, prefect of the Ambrosian Library in Milan from 1924 to 1951.
6 A few examples are known in bronze or silver.