Hospitaller Commanderies as an International Phenomenon: The Lens of Architectural Sources in the Early Modern Italian States

This chapter analyses the Order’s architectural legacy in the European commandery system in the Early Modern period. Originally developed mainly from the necessity to give shelter to pilgrims visiting Jerusalem in the Middle Ages, the commanderies evolved into the primary financial resource in the Early Modern period for the construction and development of Valletta (Malta) and for maintaining political control in their other European possessions. As a mirror of this consolidated territorial solid network, the cabreo, or land survey, was the official document for territorial control and is, today, the witness of the Order’s vast land and urban heritage, including inventories of all properties across Europe. These records are essential not only to study the history of a place, but also to preserve the traces of a legacy that functioned as the strategic and powerful core of the Knights’ territorial organisation. Using some Italian case studies, this chapter delves into the architectural languages contained in the land surveys and analyses how the local construction forms merged with the tradition of the Order.