Degni di fede: i Procuratori di S. Marco, esecutori delle volontà testamentarie a Venezia (secoli XIII-XIV)

This dissertation investigates testamentary execution in Venice between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, focusing on the Procurators of San Marco. While medieval wills have been studied as sources for religion, family strategies, and economic relations, their actual implementation remains less explored. By shifting attention from the testament as a written act to its execution in practice, the research examines how individual dispositions were translated into action and how this process contributed to the consolidation of Venetian institutions. The analysis is based on forty-nine testamentary dossiers preserved in the Archivio di Stato di Venezia (1250–1339), complemented by statutory texts, capitular records, deliberations of the Maggior Consiglio, and narrative sources. The approach integrates legal, social, and institutional perspectives: legal, by reconstructing the normative framework of executors; social, by investigating the relationships among testators, heirs, and executors; institutional, by tracing the evolution of the Procuratia of San Marco as a civic magistracy. The findings demonstrate that the Procurators became central figures in testamentary execution, entrusted with asset management, the protection of heirs, and the administration of pious bequests. Their activity reveals the interplay between private will and public authority, showing succession as a field where legal norms, economic practices, and social expectations converged. Case studies highlight strategies of widows and families, gendered aspects of inheritance, and the long-term administration of estates. The involvement of the Procurators transformed them from custodians of the ducal chapel into guarantors of memory, mediators of conflicts, and administrators of wealth. Testamentary execution in medieval Venice thus emerges as a socially embedded process that reinforced trust, continuity, and legitimacy, while offering insights into the institutional development of the Venetian commune and inviting comparative reflections on executors elsewhere in Europe.