Photo: Dr Valeria Vanesio, Dr Francesco Fiori, Prof. Emanuel Buttigieg, at the Archivio di Stato, Florence.
In late January and early February, Dr Valeria Vanesio, from the Department of Library, 福利在线免费 and Archive Sciences, MAKS, and Prof. Emanuel Buttigieg, from the Department of History, Faculty of Arts, were in Florence to follow-up and continue supporting the wonderful work that Dr Daniel K. Gullo, Director of HMML鈥檚 Malta Study Center, began in 2022 on the digitisation of the collections related to the Order of Malta held at the Archivio di Stato of Florence.
With the support of Dr Gullo, Dr Vanesio was able to meet and work with the Malta Study Center's staff, including valuable exchanges with the site-director Dr Serena Biondo, the state archivist Dr Francesca Fiori and the restorer Giada Genua. Prof. Buttigieg provided assistance from a historical point of view. Dr Vanesio also held discussions with the Director and Superintendent Michele Di Sivo for a series of collaborations. Progress was also made on the planning of a 'Hospitaller Studies School' focusing on the archives and institutions of the Order of Malta in Florence in 2024 (RSSD funds 2023 awarded to Dr Vanesio and Prof. Buttigieg); more details about this will follow soon.
After a joint research session at the archive of the Fondazione Buonarroti on the Malta-related material, Prof. Buttigieg also spent some time at the European University Institute, while Dr Vanesio visited the Vatican Apostolic Library to start a joint project of research and archival description with the Library's Sezione Archivi. Dr Vanesio also delivered a lecture at the Doctoral School of Sapienza University of Rome.
