Archaeologists in Greece have found over 50 Venetian silver coins dating to the 14th century AD, hidden in a Renaissance-era piggy bank, the culture ministry said.

The 54 silver coins known as grossi were found at a coastal village on the Aegean island of Naxos next to a shattered clay jar containing additional coins.

They bear the likeness of at least three doges, the elected leaders of the Republic of Venice which was one of the maritime superpowers of the Renaissance period.

Archaeologists have identified doges Bartolomeo Gradenigo, Giovanni Soranzo and Andrea Dandolo, who successively ruled the republic from 1329 to 1354, the ministry said.

Naxos was among many Greek islands ruled by Venice from the 15th century to the early 18th century during a long struggle for supremacy in the eastern Mediterranean against the Ottoman Turks.