Other Italian mints followed the example of Venice by issuing their own grossi. Verona, Bologna, Reggio, Parma and Pavia all had coins of pure silver with weights roughly that of the Venetian grosso by 1230. The Roman Senate struck grossi in the mid 13th century, but by then it was the Venetian grosso which had become a major trade currency.Philip Grierson, The Coins of Medieval Europe, pages 107 to 109. Indeed, in the 13th century, Martino da Canale claimed the Venetian grosso was "current throughout the world on account of its good quality".John Porteous, Coins In History, page 84. That brought imitations and counterfeits, especially in the Balkans. In 1282, Venice imposed restrictions on its Dalmatian possessions prohibiting the use of copies of the grosso. By 1304, the Byzantine empire issued the basilikon, whose weight and fineness made it essentially interchangeable with the Venetian grosso and whose types were clearly inspired by it.
