The role of historic town of Rhodes in the scenario of Ottoman and Italian rules to the light of iconographic sources

The town of Rhodes, the Hospitaller stronghold until the early modern period, was under the Ottoman 1522-1912) and Italian rule (until 1943), going through a long urban and architectural evolution. Iconography from the 18th to the 20th century, also in written production (travel narratives, tourist guides, magazines), illustrates the search for medieval souvenirs in the Islamic decadent town (18th- 19th c.) and the shifting of symbolic-geographic idea of city, linked to a new attitude towards historical heritage and to the creation of a new urban center (20th c.). This communication aims to trace the changing role of medieval town in Turkish and Italian ideology and urban practices. Particular attention will be given to the iconographic source, especially photography, as a useful tool for documenting the 19th-century Ottoman Rhodes as a travel destination, then replaced by the Italian city intended to be the “Eastern rampart” of the rising empire.

The town of Rhodes, the Hospitaller stronghold until the early modern period, was under the Ottoman (1522-1912) and Italian rule (until 1943), going through a long urban and architectural evolution. Iconography from the eighteenth to the twelfth century, also in written production (travel narratives, tourist guides, magazines), illustrates the search for medieval souvenirs in the Islamic decadent town (eighteenth-nineteenth century) and the shifting of symbolic-geographic idea of city, linked to a new attitude towards historical heritage and to the creation of a new urban center (twelfth century). This communication aims to trace the changing role of historic town in Turkish and Italian ideology and urban practices. We will give particular attention to the iconographic source, especially photography, as a tool for documenting the nineteenth-century Ottoman Rhodes as a travel destination, then replaced by the Italian city intended to be the “Eastern rampart” of the rising empire.