Christina was probably a 4th-century Tuscan virgin. After converting to the Christian faith she was tortured by being thrown into Lake Bolsena in Tuscany, with a millstone tied round her neck. She is often depicted with the millstone, as in Signorelli's altarpiece in the Collection ('The Virgin and Child with Saints'). She was miraculously saved from drowning, only to suffer martyrdom by being tied to a pillar and shot with arrows; an arrow is another of her attributes.
She existed only in legend but the many tortures she had to undergo are popular subjects of narratives, particularly in her native Bolsena, where there is a fresco cycle of her life by Lorenzo Lotto.