After obtaining his doctorate in theology, he settled permanently in Rome, where he became a member of the Accademia degli Umoristi.
His links with the House of Savoy are also testified by the eulogy he delivered in 1624 upon Emmanuel Philibert's death (In obitu serenissimi principis Philiberti de Sabaudia, Romae 1624).
Member of the circle of Barberini’s proteges, he enjoyed Papal favour and became a close friend of some of the major intellectual personalities of the time, such as Gabriel Naudè[1] and Daniël Heinsius.
He wrote a Latin tragedy in five acts, Agrippina major, but he is best known for an epic on the Biblical character of Judith (Bartholomaei Tortoletti Iuditha vindex e vindicata, 1628).
Leo Allatius' Apes Urbanæ contains a complete catalogue of all the published and unpublished works of Tortoletti.