Falsae a fin di bene. Copie, manipolazioni, invenzioni devotionis causa tra le epigrafi dei cristiani di Roma

The aim of the paper is to search for the first time about the phenomenon of 'forgeries' among Early Christian epigraphs from Rome, starting from the Early Medieval and Medieval copies (noviciae) until the re-discovering of the Christian catacombs in the frame of the Catholic reaction against the Protestant Reform. In this sense, the Catholic religious devotion was an important 'engine' in order to make total or partial forgeries of Early Christian epigraphs accompanying the relics of believed martyrs in Rome, Italy and Europe.