Giovanni Niccoló Barinti (1681-1731) was born in Civitavecchia, a seaport town of the province of Rome in the central Italian region of Latium. He was a theologian, musician and renowned orator, speaking from pulpits in Italy, including ones in Florence. The medal commemorates one of his trips to Florence which he made in 1726. He died unexpectedly in 1731 from a fever. The reverse of the medal, which depicts the biblical story of Moses striking a rock and making the waters flow, alludes to Barinti’s great oratorical powers.