The Inn of the Tongue of Italy for the Hospitaller knights in Rhodes

Abstract

SUMMARY The identification of a building on Rhodes as the Hospitaller Inn of the Tongue of Italy has been subject to doubt and is contested by some scholars. This article sheds light on this question and brings new evidence from architectural, archaeological, 19th-century photographic, and manuscript sources. Some as yet unidentified structures appear to be property of the Tongue of Italy. Regarding the building in question, it was built in 1519 and likely stands on land previously occupied by the former mansion house of Fabrizio del Carretto, when he was admiral of the Order of Rhodes from 1509 to 1513.The doubts expressed about this structure, whether it should be considered as the Inn of Italy, are not well-founded. The house with the arms of Fabrizio del Carretto in the Street of the Knights can be identified as the Inn of the Tongue of Italy, as it was part of the Italian ‘Auberge’ housing some of its functions, in other words part of several buildings owned by this Tongue: the Inn of the knights, the private houses of the successive chiefs of the Tongue who held the office of admiral, the mansion houses for one or more priors from Italy, when they were at Rhodes, and the auxiliary buildings belonging to the Tongue of Italy. Today part of the historic centre of the town of Rhodes a designated World Heritage Site by UNESCO, this monument presents a significant multi-disciplinary dimension. It was built by a Christian military and religious Order. For almost four centuries, it was an Ottoman house, and the ground floor was converted into a grocery and tobacco store. By the beginning of the 20th century, after it was restored, its medieval architecture was highlighted. Today, it houses the Service of the Direction of the Medieval Town of Rhodes. Despite the fact that this structure went through different uses during the last five centuries, it stands as a most worthy-of-consideration example for intercultural identity.