Commandery of the Knights of Malta in Piazza Armerina
Carlo Pelagalli - CC3.0
The Commandery of the Knights of Malta in Piazza Armerina is a building of considerable historical value as it represents an important testimony of Crusader involvement in Sicily.
It was built in the 11th century on the pre-existing church of S. Maria del Soccorso and was donated by the Count Simone Aleramico, head of the Lombards of Sicily, to the Knights of the Hospital of Jerusalem. The Knights took possession of the building around 1150 with the commitment to build a complex that would serve as a hospice for pilgrims heading to the Holy Land and as a place of gathering and rest for the Crusader Knights. In 1337, following the construction of the new city walls, the church was annexed to the inhabited center and Porta San Giovanni was erected near it. In 1420 the Casa was transformed into a Commenda as the task of the knights was now only to administer the goods of the Order. Following the unification of Italy, the assets of the Commenda became State property, the church was declared a national monument.
The church, in Norman style, has two entrance portals in Gothic style, of which the main one surmounted by a slit in the shape of a Greek cross. On the long side of the church there are several loopholes through which the light that illuminates the interior filters. The Commandery had a circular bell tower of which only the foundations remain.
The interior, with a single nave, has a rectangular plan enclosed by a semicircular apse. Along the nave is the ceiling with wooden trusses.
Of the original decorations of the church, only two polychrome marble mosaics placed near the altar and the two stoups have come down to our days.
