Pius IX, Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti of Senigallia. Pope from 1846 to 1878. Monument to the Blessed Virgin in Piazza di Spagna. Silver medal of maximum module 1876 Year XXXI. By Giuseppe Bianchi. (Silver, 82.24 mm, 285.81 g). PIVS IX PONT MAX SACRI PRINC A XXXI Bust left with zucchetto, mozzetta and stole decorated with the Pope insignia, the radiated Cross and floral spirals; below the bust cut, I BIANCHI S. Rev. MARIAE D N OB MEMORIAM DECRETI QVO PIVS IX P M IMMAC IPSIVS CONCEPTVM FIDE CATH CREDENDVM INDIXIT VI ID DEC A MDCCCLIV View of the column erected in Piazza di Spagna in honor of the B.V. Immaculate; to right, the palace of the Spanish Embassy; in the background, the palace of the Propaganda Fide. In exergue, A MDCCCLXXVI; below, I BIANCHI S. Bartolotti 1971, 20. Bartolotti 1988, p. 322, XXXI – n. 3. With coeval light-purple leather original case with gilded pope's coat of arms, flowers and spirals decorations imprinted on the cover. Attractive old cabinet tone with some light iridescence. Two small nicks on the obverse, otherwise, Nearly Uncirculated. Extremely rare. Ex Varesi auction 54, November 18, 2009, lot 1812. Medal of maximum module minted in memory of the erection in Piazza di Spagna of the column dedicated to the B.V. Immaculate. The column had been found during excavations in Campo Marzio in 1777, but only 77 years later, with the decision of Pius IX to erect a sacred monument to the Virgin, in perennial memory of the dogma he defined as the Immaculate Conception (1854), it was decided to reuse it. The project for the monumental execution of the work was entrusted to the architect Luigi Poletti (see F. Bartolotti).