Francesco Lacopo, “The Papal States in the Mediterranean World: Conversion to Catholicism in Rome and Ancona.”
Dr. Lacopo’s work examines the relationship between the Catholic population and the religious minorities living in the Papal States. Through a careful and painstaking archival examination of the records of two cities, Rome and Ancona, Dr Lacopo’s work complicates traditional views of those interactions, showing that Catholic officials often did not behave in accordance with the dictates of the Catholic authorities. Dr Lacopo explores the intricacies of the various interrelated layers of overlapping authority within the Papal States, putting the relationship between early modern Catholic and Jewish, Muslim, and Orthodox communities in a new light.