CURIALE, SCRITTURA. — This name designates, because they were used by the scribes of certain curiae between the 5th and 13th centuries, a group of Latin scripts derived from Roman cursive. General characteristics of these scripts are: rapid strokes, abundant letter ligatures and connections, long ascenders; and also the form of *a* resembling an « (cf. CANCELLERESCA, SCRITTURA).
In the papal curia this script had two periods: from the 8th to the 11th century and from the 11th to the 12th; in the first it appeared
broad, rounded, majestic, as was still required by the frequent use of papyrus; in the second, however, it became minute and graceful, as now permitted by parchment. Alongside the curial script there developed, closely resembling it, the script of the Roman notaries, less elegant and equally difficult to read.
Also called curial, though better termed curial-like, are the scripts of the scribes of Naples and Amalfi, which spread or exerted influence in Sorrento, Gaeta, Salerno, Capua. These too, derived from Roman cursive, were definitively abolished by Frederick II because of their extreme difficulty in reading. Their characteristics are ligatures, connections, even fusions of letters. For the Amalfitan script, the following features are listed: *a* in the form of *o*; *e* in the form of a small 8; *g* in the form of 3 or *s* or *z*; *i* small when isolated, large and resembling an *l* at the beginning of a word, long and comma-shaped when preceded by *f*, *g*, *l*, *r*, *s*; *t*, generally with an eye, when followed by a vowel takes the form of *o* or 8, when preceded by *s* takes the form of a straight, horizontal 8, when followed by *i* takes the same form as *e*.