A signature of Pomponio Leto in the Oratory of SS. Annunziata in Cori (Latina)? The contribution of high-definition laser scanner in the study of scratched inscriptions (graffiti)

The subject of this paper is an inscription scratched onto a painted wall of the small, but evocative, Oratory of SS. Annunziata in Cori (near Latina), built in the first half of the fifteenth century and well known to art historians and now also to the general public for its beautiful frescoes, depicting scenes from the Old and New Testament. This inscription is unanimously attributed by scholars to the famous humanist Giulio Pomponio Leto, but, based on a new survey, made using a high-definition 3D laser scanner, an alternative reading has been proposed.