Una epigrafe dalla Commenda dei Cavalieri di Malta a Tarquinia. Spunti per la storia medievale della Tuscia

A calcarenite slab with the epitaph of a woman died in AD 1329 has been fortuitously found during some restauration works carried out in Commandry of the Knights of Malta (nowadays known as the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta) in Tarquinia (in the province of Viterbo). The funerary inscription, almost unpublished, reused in the building annexed to the medieval church of St. John the Baptist, briefly reports about the life of Bartolomea, daughter of James lord of Tolfa Vecchia, wife of Guittuccio of Bisenzio. The analysis of the epigraphic document, the speculation about its original setting, the comparative research on the technicalities of the inscription, and the study of the armory pictured in the slab, provide the opportunity to discuss some issues in relation to the history of southern Tuscia during the Middle Ages.