Abstract

Studies on ecclesiastical justice in modern Italy focus mainly on Holy Office courts - the most famous tribunals of the Roman Catholic church. However, Apostolic Nunciature courts are of equal importance. The survey discusses their importance, in relation to a recent, accurate inventory, which presents to scholars the rich and unexplored judicial Archives of the Nunciature of Savoy preserved in the Vatican Secret Archives. It will allow a deeper, more adequate understanding of unknown characteristics of Italy's civil and religious history between the Counter-Reformation and the Enlightenment.