Il Gran Priorato di Lombardia e la Commenda di Moncalieri

The geographical extent of the possessions of the Knights Hospitaller of St. John gave from one side the ability to change and constantly improve the property, consisting of commanderies and hospitals, and from the other side to make Malta, during the XVI-XVII centuries, a fortified city. The land survey (cabreo), testimony of the immense heritage of the Order, have inventories of all the properties of commanderies and are intrinsically linked to its institution. In the Grand Priory of Lombardy, the Hospitallers knew a remarkable development, as in the commandery of Moncalieri. The interest in this documentation mainly lies in the copious amount of historical and topographic information we can obtain, and also in the possibility to analyse the diachronic transformation of our territory. The lack of a systematic study about the presence of the Order, which has spread internationally, underlines the necessity to study the original sources with a renewed critical overlook.