Main description (Italian)

Frequently, we are inclined to consider the Romans as ‘static’ citizens who were born, lived and died in the Urbe, as static as the territories administered by the most important power in Rome, the papacy, would appear to be; however, the picture is much more colourful. Starting in the 13th century, under pope Innocent III, a new administrative division was established, the Patrimonium Beati Petri in Tuscia, which was the theatre of frequent conflicts between the papacy, supporter of a programme of intransigent affirmation of the Church’s supremacy, Communes (particularly Viterbo and Orvieto) and noble families. Evidence of this rich and heterogeneous historical context comes from some 13th-14th century inscriptions from Viterbo relating to popes, members of the clergy and Roman citizens whose history was intimately connected with that of Viterbo. The epigraphic analysis of these artefacts will make it possible to delineate the forms of self-representation of the commissioners and, at the same time, to verify similarities and divergences, in both textual and material respects, with contemporary Roman epigraphic production.