I gerosolimitani in Toscana e lungo la via Francigena. Ospedali, commende e fortificazioni

According to the archival sources, the Hospitallers were present in central Italy since XI-XII centuries. In particular Tuscany, all along the Via Francigena, was an important place of transit for the pilgrimage international roads to Rome and Jerusalem. Hospitallers settled in different areas and built their hospitals and commanderies in and out of different fortified cities, for example, Lucca and Volterra. The analysis of Hospitaller commanderies gives us a new perspective to understand the process of transformation in a fortified rural and urban context. The descriptions and representations in land surveys and improvements and the archival procedure that lead to the creation of these records are important information to discover unpublished representations of these cities and to explore the links between Hospitaller architectural history and fortifications. The huge archival heritage, as cartography and cadastral maps, preserved in different holding institutions has amply demonstrated to have an important role in recognizing the changes occurred on cultural heritage and landscape during the centuries as part of our identity. Through the case study of Volterra focused on the commandery of San Lazzaro, the aim of this paper is to give some brief remarks and methodological lines to identify the specificities of a territory and to discern its transformations over time taking into account the Order of St. John as the international fil rouge of the research.