Valeria Vanesio | University of Malta (original) (raw)
Before joining the University of Malta at the Department of Library Information & Archive Sciences in 2020, I was post-doc in Archival History and Archivist of the Malta Study Center (HMML, USA) from 2018 to 2020 and I was and am still involved in a range of activities that includes: projects of digitisation, preservation, and archival description; creation of a specific authority file for the records related to the Order of Saint John and the Maltese archipelago; research projects on the archival history of the Order in collaboration with Universities, Research Centres, and other institutions. I am now International Associate of the Malta Study Center and lead cataloguing and research projects in Malta, Italy and the Vatican Library (Barberini project).
I was also in charge of the first 3-years project of reorganisation of the historical fonds at Magistral Archives of Order of Saint John in Rome (2014-2017) with the creation of an internal archival guide. My MA and PHD dissertations, both held at Sapienza University of Rome, focused on the archival history of the Order, discovered and identified the historical archival holdings at the Magistral Archives and explored the connections between Rome, the other Hospitaller records at the Italian State Archives and Malta.
I held two specialisation diploma at the State Archive in Rome and the Vatican Archive.
My main fields of research are history of archives and institutions, with a focus on the Order of St John and the Mediterranean area, archival cataloguing standards, and digital humanities. I am also recently delving into the interplay between archives and emotions, archival pedagogies, and colonial legacies in the field of archives and libraries. I conducted research and lectured in Italy, Malta and United States.
Awards, stipends and scholarships: Premio Bibliographica (2016), the Heckman Stipend from the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library (2017; 2022); mention to the Premio Minerva (2020) for the best doctoral dissertation and research career at Sapienza University of Rome.
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Papers by Valeria Vanesio
The Order of St. John in Malta, from the XVI to XVIII Centuries, played an important institutiona... more The Order of St. John in Malta, from the XVI to XVIII Centuries, played an important institutional role in Europe's modernised social structure and political scenario. Its geographically-dispersed presence and prolonged history structured a Johanniter identity linking a political network of relationships based on the distribution of power. Across Europe and on the island-convent, the 'administrative nodes' of commanderies and agricultural estates, highlights the Order's attentive significance of possessing land as a crucial resource for economic benefit. This demand encouraged landscape recharacterisation and management systems - including administrative records, especially cabrei and legal documents - that ensured property value and economic sustainment. Although Italian and Maltese landed properties are of different geographic and juridical natures, their continued transformation throughout the Order's period and by subsequent rulers - the British in Malta and ...
Presentazione del progetto di Dottorato in Scienze documentarie, linguistiche e letterarie Curric... more Presentazione del progetto di Dottorato in Scienze documentarie, linguistiche e letterarie
Curriculum: Scienze del libro e del documento
A.A. 2014/2015 - 30° Ciclo
Conference Presentations by Valeria Vanesio
The Order of St. John in Malta, from the XVI to XVIII Centuries, played an important institutiona... more The Order of St. John in Malta, from the XVI to XVIII Centuries, played an important institutional role in Europe's modernised social structure and political scenario. Its geographically-dispersed presence and prolonged history structured a Johanniter identity linking a political network of relationships based on the distribution of power. Across Europe and on the island-convent, the 'administrative nodes' of commanderies and agricultural estates, highlights the Order's attentive significance of possessing land as a crucial resource for economic benefit. This demand encouraged landscape recharacterisation and management systems - including administrative records, especially cabrei and legal documents - that ensured property value and economic sustainment. Although Italian and Maltese landed properties are of different geographic and juridical natures, their continued transformation throughout the Order's period and by subsequent rulers - the British in Malta and ...
Presentazione del progetto di Dottorato in Scienze documentarie, linguistiche e letterarie Curric... more Presentazione del progetto di Dottorato in Scienze documentarie, linguistiche e letterarie
Curriculum: Scienze del libro e del documento
A.A. 2014/2015 - 30° Ciclo
See related paper: “Rediscovering the archival history of the Order of Saint John: the proofs of ... more See related paper: “Rediscovering the archival history of the Order of Saint John: the proofs of admission of the Langue of Italy (c.15th-18th century)”, Cahiers de la Méditerranée 104 (2022), 27-50. https://doi.org/10.4000/cdlm.15509
Our paper focuses on the analysis of some Italian modern Cabrei of the Order of Malta investigati... more Our paper focuses on the analysis of some Italian modern Cabrei of the Order of Malta investigating differences between rules and common procedure from archival and architectural perspectives. By this study, we will underline the value of cabrei and miglioramenti as primary sources for the History of Institutions and Landscape. It is intended to reconstruct archival practices used by central government and peripheral Italian Priories of the Order in the Cabrevatio Bonorum process, analysing also the present dispersion of the archival sources in different holding institutions. At the same time, our proposal aims to analyse the influences of the Order on cultural and social local systems, by investigating the transformations on architectural and landscape heritage. The comparison of archival and architectural sources allows us on one side to understand how the Order’s properties, were imbued with a specific identity; on the other side, this comparison will emphasise ways which guaranteed the keeping of possessions. With the analysis of original sources, it is interesting to notice the difference between the codified procedure for compiling the cabreo and the local practice; it also essential to identify the archival provenance of the sources, to create an archival guide (finding aid) and to properly understand the history of these records and who produced them. Our study starts with three Magistral Commanderies, some cases from northern, central and southern Italy from the Modern Age: it will be discussed in an interpretation of original documents and drawings for a future enhancement of this immense heritage.
When in 1798 the vice-chancellor Carvalho Pinto was obliged to deliver the keys of the chancery t... more When in 1798 the vice-chancellor Carvalho Pinto was obliged to deliver the keys of the chancery to the French, the Knights of St. John, the oldest military and religious order, didn’t lose only their last link with the government of the Island. It was the culmination of a deep institutional crisis. The loss of a permanent territorial basis, the fracture between the central convent and its European periphery, and the internal political divisions led the Order to the research of a new balance between the old and the new world, between traditions and innovations. The forced separation from its central archive and the following dispersion of documents in Malta and Europe completely redesigned the Hospitaller archival scenario. This intervention aims to prove how the reconstruction of its identity and the redefinition of its political, social and legal profile started from the efforts to recover its archival heritage as a proof of legitimacy and as the only way to build a new system and administration.
From a little hospital for pilgrims to a powerful principality in the heart of the Mediterranean, only a handful of men remained with the aim of rebuilding an order, finding a new home in their archives.
According to the archival sources, the Hospitallers were present in central Italy since XI-XII ce... more 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 some case studies focused on commanderies and fortified cities, 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.
James Floyd (ed.), Genealogica & Heraldica: Origins and evolution. Proceedings of the XXXII International Congress of Genealogical and Heraldic Sciences, Glasgow, 10-13 August 2016, Edinburgh, pp: 403-412, 2021
Defensive Architecture of the Mediterranean XV to XVIII centuries-vol.5, 2017
In this proposal the aim is to analyse the fortified city of Arezzo from unpublished archival doc... more In this proposal the aim is to analyse the fortified city of Arezzo from unpublished archival documents. The Johannite Commandery of S. Jacopo, today no longer existing, was part of the urban setting of Arezzo and was located near the Porta Santo Spirito. This ancient fortification survives today. It stands as a very important example of military constructions for its massive polygonal town walls which were built between 1538 and 1560 by Antonio da Sangallo il Giovane on the site of the old Medieval citadel. The Church of S. Jacopo was destroyed to make way for new urban plans in the post-war period. Still in the urban area traces of the Order of Malta’s architecture survive. Our explanation attempts to explore the connection of this commandery with the fortified city. From such perspective it is interesting to analyse the setting up and functioning of the commandery within a fortified-urban framework. In this analysis studying the drawings produced by the land surveyors from the cabrei is of utmost importance. These unpublished documents, part of the ancient archive of the Priory of Pisa, offer in fact an unusual representation of a fortified city, which is now preserved in the Archivio di Stato in Florence.
Rimbombano tra le carte echi di storia lontana. Spunta la croce ottagona tra i riflessi pergamena... more Rimbombano tra le carte echi di storia lontana. Spunta la croce ottagona tra i riflessi pergamenacei. Vive pulsante la memoria tangibile di una realtà oscillante tra consuetudine ed evoluzione.
Gli Archivi Magistrali del Sovrano Militare Ordine di Malta, patrimonio internazionale dal profumo quasi millenario, dimorano oggi presso l’elegante Palazzo Magistrale di via dei Condotti n.68, sede extraterritoriale del governo dell’Ordine. Spalancando le porte della Conservatoria si presenta oggi un panorama documentario estremamente ricco di fascino e valore, fedele compagno di viaggio nelle avventure del suo soggetto produttore.
Burgassi, V. Said-Zammit, G., Vanesio, V. The Land and the Cross: Properties of the Order of the Knights Hospitaller between centre and periphery (16th-18th centuries). Routledge (accepted, work in progress).
The Department of Library, Information & Archive Sciences and the Department of History of the Un... more The Department of Library, Information & Archive Sciences and the Department of History of the University of Malta (RSSD funds), in collaboration with the State Archive of Florence and the Malta Study Center, are glad to announce the first edition of the Winter School in Archival Studies ‘Malta and the Order of St John in Europe (16th-18th centuries). Documents, People, Institutions’.
More info here: https://www.um.edu.mt/maks/las/ourresearch/projectsandinitiatives/callforwinterschool/
This conference is the result of an international partnership and collaboration between scholars ... more This conference is the result of an international partnership and collaboration between scholars and institutions: Dr Armando Antista (University of Palermo - DARCH), Dr Valentina Burgassi (Politecnico di Torino - DAD and CHG), Prof Helena Pérez Gallardo (Universidad Complutense de Madrid - FRIAS), Dr Valeria Vanesio (University of Malta - DLIAS).
More information here: https://www.um.edu.mt/events/peoplebooksmodels2024/
![Research paper thumbnail of Seminar and Workshop "Stories of the Auberge d’Italie: faces, facets, façades" [with Christian Mifsud and Emanuel Buttigieg] 21 March 2023](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/105515460/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](![Research paper thumbnail of Project launch and opening lecture "Stories of the Auberge d’Italie: faces, facets, façades" [with Christian Mifsud, Emanuel Buttigieg, Valentina Burgassi]. 22 November 2022](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/105515446/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](![Research paper thumbnail of 30th Anniversary of the Department of Library, Information & Archive Sciences, University of Malta [with Dr Charles Farrugia], Valletta, 3rd December 2022](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/105515488/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Academic seminar organised to discuss past, present and future of the archival and library profes... more Academic seminar organised to discuss past, present and future of the archival and library profession in Malta and celebrate 30 years of activity of the Department
![Research paper thumbnail of Archives & Emotions. International online conference [with Dr Ilaria Scaglia (Aston University)] 7th October 2022](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/105515560/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](The Archives & Emotions conference is a joint project between the Department of Politics, History... more The Archives & Emotions conference is a joint project between the Department of Politics, History, and International Relations of Aston University, Birmingham, UK, and the Department of Library, Information and Archive Sciences of the University of Malta, respectively organised by Dr Ilaria Scaglia and Dr Valeria Vanesio. This conference aims to explore the interplay between emotions and traditional, digital, public/official, and personal/unofficial archives from an interdisciplinary point of view. It intends to encourage and stimulate discussion around three main themes, with an eye on the biocultural aspects of emotions and archives and on the set of practices attached to archival experience and their related emotions:
The researcher and the archivist’s emotions at/with the archives
Emotions and the making of the archive itself
The emotional impact of archives on peoples and communities
The conference also aims at serving as a forum where new research and methodologies can be discussed and tested through a multidisciplinary approach and by combining different perspectives and archival traditions.
Series of online academic seminars (every 2 months) organised in collaboration with Prof. Emanuel... more Series of online academic seminars (every 2 months) organised in collaboration with Prof. Emanuel Buttigieg (Department of History, UM) and Dr Daniel K Gullo (HMML, Malta Study Center), with international guests about multidisciplinary topics.
The purpose of this research forum is to bring together scholars working in the field of Hospital... more The purpose of this research forum is to bring together scholars working in the field of Hospitaller studies.
The Order of St John is an institution which, for many centuries, has had a presence across multiple regions and is now an organisation with a global reach. A coherent understanding of its history requires a similarly widespread community of scholars working in collaboration and close communication with each other. The Hospitaller Research Forum aspires to offer the infrastructure for such a community to become established and thrive.
The long history of the Order of St. John, the legacies of its presence across regions, and the rich source materials that offer striking traces of its past, have long attracted the interest of a wide range of scholars in multiple fields. There exists both a very long tradition of scholarship and a very lively research culture on the Hospitallers. With a few very worthy exceptions, this scholarship is often fragmented along linguistic and regional lines. It is part of the purpose of this Forum to enhance these regional specialisms by bringing them into closer dialogues with one another, thereby diminishing the levels of fragmentation.
In order to achieve this the Hospitaller Research Forum will undertake a range of activities, such as an annual workshop on a given theme or topic in Hospitaller Studies. The long-term aim is to formulate a coherent research agenda and address gaps, issues and challenges in the field.
These activities will take place predominantly online through video-conferencing, document-sharing and other applications as required.
The results of this Forum may be in the form of scholarly papers collected in special issues of relevant international peer-reviewed journals and in the form of book-length edited collections.
A further aim of the Forum is to design collaborative research projects which would then form the basis of research funding applications from appropriate sources.
See the online conference Archives and Emotions
Project code: IPAS-2022-017; principal investigator: Christian Mifsud (Heritage Malta), Dr Valeri... more Project code: IPAS-2022-017; principal investigator:
Christian Mifsud (Heritage Malta), Dr Valeria Vanesio, Dr Emanuel Buttigieg, Dr Valentina Burgassi team members; 6000 euros
Awarded the Research Seed Fund 2022 of the University of Malta (3700 euros; 2022, 2023)
Multi-year project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities to create a definitive lis... more Multi-year project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities to create a definitive list of authorities files for the Order of Malta, including corporate names, geographic names, personal and family names to be submitted to VIAF and Library of Congress. Project directed by HMML and the Malta Study Center.
On the 10 of August, there was the inauguration of the exhibition: ‘The Langue of Italy: Building... more On the 10 of August, there was the inauguration of the exhibition: ‘The Langue of Italy: Building an Identity / Il-Lingwa tal-Italja: il-bini ta’ identità’, which is being held at MUŻA, Valletta, between 11 August and 24 September 2023. The exhibition can be visited free of charge.
This exhibition forms part of a comprehensive project entitled ‘Stories of the Auberge d’Italie: faces, facets, façades’, the scope of which is to explore this key historic institution within a contextualised historic urban and institutional landscape.
This project is funded by the Internationalisation Partnership Awards Scheme Plus (IPAS+) 2022 of the Malta Council for Science and Technology, and represents a strong collaboration between the University of Malta, Politecnico di Torino and Heritage Malta, supported by the National Library of Malta (Malta Libraries), the Malta Study Center (Hill Museum and Manuscript Library, USA), and the I-Access Project (Interreg Italia-Malta).
The exhibition and the wider project are the result of a collaboration between: Prof. Emanuel Buttigieg (Department of History, Faculty of Arts, UM), Dr Valeria Vanesio (Department of Library Information & Archive Sciences, Faculty of Media & Knowledge Sciences, UM), Mr Christian Mifsud (Project coordinator -Heritage Malta), and Dr Valentina Burgassi (Department of Architecture and Design - Construction History Group, Politecnico di Torino).
The second volume includes the advanced archival description of 381 proofs of nobility of the Pri... more The second volume includes the advanced archival description of 381 proofs of nobility of the Priory of Rome and the first identification (archival reference code, name, date and priory of provenance) of the other admission records, for a total of 910 volumes. Moreover, it contains the advanced archival description of 456 genealogical trees and the creation of authority records for each aspirant knight/servant of arms/chaplain, family, place, and priory.
The platform used (XDAMS) did not allow to print all of them. See vol. 1 for the methodology adopted.
The study reconstructs the archival practices used by the central government of the Order of Malt... more The study reconstructs the archival practices used by the central government of the Order of Malta in Malta (and later in Italy) and the peripheral Italian Priories of the Order based on the unpublished documents (proofs of nobility and admission) found in Archives of the Order at the Magistral Archives in Rome and at the National Library of Malta. This research analyses rules and archival procedure to be admitted to the Langue of Italy as a case study to investigate the archival history of the Order of St. John with a particular focus on the early modern period. It also aims to reconstruct the archival connection between central and Italian peripheral chanceries and offices of the Order by rediscovering the role and function of the Langue of Italy as a vibrant connecting body in the Hospitaller and Italian political and archival scenario. Moreover, the study intends to provide some methodological lines to investigate the Hospitaller archival panorama in Italy that was completely redesigned by the suppression of the religious orders and to identify institutions and archival creators involved in the procedures. The research also provides the map of the dispersed archival sources and the virtual reconstruction of the ancient Maltese and Hospitaller archival framework.
See the second volume for the inventory of the proofs of nobility.
Main supervisor: Prof. Francesca Santoni (Sapienza University, Rome)
Co-supervisors: Prof. Marina Raffaeli (Sapienza University, Rome), Prof. Federica Formiga (Verona University), Valeria Maria Leonardi (Magistral Archives)
Referees: Prof. Emanuel Buttigieg (University of Malta), Prof. Andrea Giorgi (Trento University)
This is the last draft submitted.
Tutor: Prof. Marina Raffaeli Co-tutor: Prof. Francesca Santoni National award Premio Bibliograph... more Tutor: Prof. Marina Raffaeli
Co-tutor: Prof. Francesca Santoni
National award Premio Bibliographica 2016
Tutor: Prof. Francesco de Luca