Bartolo da Sassoferrato: dal cuore d’Italia all’Europa. La fortuna del giurista, tra antichi censimenti e nuovi progetti

During a short life, spent in towns of central Italy, especially Perugia, Bartolus de Saxoferrato produced a personal exegesis of the legal texts which resulted in works of great clarity and effectiveness and which gained him soon a great success. Hundreds of manuscripts are found everywhere in Europe along with thousands of copies of printed editions, which testify his influence, lasting long after his death. This implied a number of doubtful or false attributions, on which scholars keep debating; a systematic study of Bartolus’ works, started in occasion of the celebrations of the centenary of his death (1957), is still to be completed. The job has been recently re-started within a dedicated project, stimulated also by the centenary of the birth (2013). The recent initiative is looking at the matter by a different perspective: a complete census is pursued, which adds to the manuscripts also all printed editions in order to a complete reconstruction of the bibliographic landscape, which testifies of the fame of the jurist.