“’Roma patria comune’. Foreigners in Rome in the early modern period

The essay analyzes the juridical status of the foreigner in early modern Rome andtraces its social, political and juridical evolution.It goes to analyze the function of the nationes as agent of integration in Roman society, along with their relations with the papal and cardinal's courts, and their links tocultural patronage. It will try to judge the extent to which religious conversion was perceived as essential to integration into Rome's society and court.The essay demonstates that the foreigners were not marginal to social, religious and political Rome: their presence helped shape the city and, once the Catholic Reform began, they played a major role in papal ambitions to reclaim Europe for the Catholic Church.