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Abstract:  AN INTERPRETATION OF THE REFORM OF THE TRIBUNALS FRESCO IN THE SALE PAOLINE OF THE BIBLIOTECA APOSTOLICA VATICANA The description of public ceremonies and urban and cultural achievements has had a place in the biographies of pontiffs since the fifteenth century and the apology dedicated to Pope Paul V did not overlook this tradition. However, even before his biographers were able to laud his qualities, the Borghese Pope had taken it into his own hands to make sure that what he considered the buon governo (good government) of the public sphere became clear. Between 1610 and 1612, a team of painters led by Giovan Battista Ricci from Novara, adorned two rooms with gigantic frescos which alternately portrayed the events of his pontificate and historic episodes. The article then concentrates on the painting which portrays the reformation of the tribunals (painted by Antonio Viviani, but based on a drawing by Giovan Battista Ricci) which had been promoted by the Borghese pope. An interpretation of this painting posits that the man kneeling in front of the pontiff is Gabriele Falconio, a Roman Senator. His presence not only shows that the pope tried to give prestige back to the Senator’s Tribunal, but indeed that this institution had managed to preserve it.