Bridging Hospitaller Histories: a digital journey from Malta to Florence and beyond

Event: Bridging Hospitaller Histories: a digital journey from Malta to Florence and beyond

Date: Wednesday 11 March 2026

Time: 12:15-13:45

Venue: MKS507, Level 5, MAKS building, UM Msida Campus

12:15 Bridging Hospitaller Histories: A Digital Journey from Malta to Florence and Beyond

Bridging Hospitaller Histories: A Digital Journey from Malta to Florence and Beyond presents the ongoing digital preservation initiatives of the Malta Study Centre in Florence, carried out in collaboration with the Department of Library, Information & Archive Sciences. The seminar highlights how digital technologies are reshaping access to—and interpretation of—Hospitaller and related archival heritage across the Mediterranean.

The presentation will introduce the digitisation activities undertaken in Florence, with particular reference to the records of the Priory of Pisa, a key institutional node within the wider network of the Order of St John. This documentary corpus sheds light on administrative structures, devotional practices, and the transregional connections linking Tuscany to Malta and beyond. The seminar will also briefly present the groundbreaking digitisation project—the first of its kind—of the Buonarroti family archive, most famously associated with Michelangelo. This initiative demonstrates how interconnected family, institutional, and religious records can contribute to a deeper understanding of early modern Mediterranean societies.

Particular attention will be devoted to the records of the female monastery of San Giovannino dei Cavalieri in Florence, a religious house closely connected to the Hospitaller world. Through the digitisation, cataloguing, and contextualisation of its archival fonds, the project not only safeguards fragile documentation but also foregrounds women’s experiences within a predominantly male institutional framework.

Building on this work, the seminar will present the first results of the virtual reconstruction of the monastery’s church and convent, developed through the integration of archival evidence, architectural documentation, and digital humanities methodologies. This reconstruction represents an initial immersive interpretative model that reconnects dispersed records with their original spatial and devotional contexts.

By bridging Malta and Florence through digital preservation, the collaborative projects of DLIAS and the Malta Study Centre demonstrate how transnational digitisation initiatives can open new research pathways, enhance teaching and public engagement, and reanimate complex institutional histories within a global digital landscape.

Dr Christian Mifsud is an archaeologist and the Principal Curator for research and documentation of historic buildings at Heritage Malta. He holds a PhD in the History of Architecture, alongside degrees in Archaeology, Anthropology, and Baroque Studies from the University of Malta. His work centres on understanding the values of place through urban transformation, utilising a multidisciplinary approach that combines the archaeology of standing buildings with social and economic history.

Mifsud is highly proficient in advanced documentation methods, including 3D digital reconstruction. With a career spanning both the private and public sectors, including roles at the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage and the Valletta Management Unit, he has a proven track record of applying academic research within practical regulatory frameworks.

Dr Valeria Vanesio is a Lecturer in the Department of Library, Information and Archive Sciences at the University of Malta and serves as Site Director of the Malta Study Center at the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library (USA). She holds a PhD in Archival and Library Science from Sapienza University of Rome, along with two specialization diplomas from the State Archives in Rome and the Vatican Apostolic Archive. Her research focuses on the history of archives and institutions—particularly the Order of St John and the Mediterranean region— archival cataloguing standards, and digital humanities.

More recently, her work has explored the relationship between archives and emotions, archival pedagogy, and the impact of colonial legacies on archival and library practices. From 2014 to 2017, she led the first three-year project to reorganize the historical archives of the Magistral Archives of the Order of Saint John in Rome. She currently coordinates international research and digitization projects across Malta, Italy, England, and the Vatican Library (Sezione Archivi). Since March 2025, she has served as a member of the Executive Board of the European Branch of the International Council on Archives.