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Giovanni Francesco Ricasoli
Fra Giovanni Francesco Ricasoli (died 26 July 1673) was a Florentine knight within the Langue of Italy of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. He held several commands within the Order's navy, and is mostly known for being the namesake of Fort Ricasoli. Ricasoli joined the Order of St. John in December 1618, as a page to Grand Master Alof de Wignacourt. In December 1640, he was given command of a galley within the Order's navy, and he commanded a number of other ships over the course of his career. He was involved in naval battles against the Barbary pirates and the Ottoman Empire a number of times, including during the Fifth Ottoman–Venetian War. Ricasoli became a Knight Grand Cross in June 1661. In 1670, Ricasoli contributed 20,000 scudi for the construction of a fort near the entrance of Malta's Grand Harbour, which was named Fort Ricasoli in his honour. The fort was completed in 1698, and it cost over 100,000 scudi to build. Ricasoli died on 26 July 1673. He is bu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fortification And Lighthouse Of Valletta Malta 2014 1
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ("to make"). From very early history to modern times, defensive walls have often been necessary for cities to survive in an ever-changing world of invasion and conquest. Some settlements in the Indus Valley civilization were the first small cities to be fortified. In ancient Greece, large stone walls had been built in Mycenaean Greece, such as the ancient site of Mycenae (famous for the huge stone blocks of its ' cyclopean' walls). A Greek '' phrourion'' was a fortified collection of buildings used as a military garrison, and is the equivalent of the Roman castellum or English fortress. These constructions mainly served the purpose of a watch tower, to guard certain roads, passes, and borders. Though smaller than a real fortress, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maltese Scudo
The scudo (plural ''scudi'') is the official currency of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and was the currency of Malta during the rule of the Order over Malta, which ended in 1798. It is subdivided into 12 ''tarì'' (singular ''tarì''), each of 20 ''grani'' (singular ''grano'') with 6 ''piccoli'' (singular ''piccolo'') to the grano. It is pegged to the euro (at a rate of 1 scudo to €0.24, which translates to €1 = 4 scudi 2 tarì). History The scudo was first minted in Rhodes in 1318. By 1500 the coins had the distinctive characteristics of a cross and the Order's and Grandmaster's coat of arms on one side, and the head of St. John the Baptist on the other. The scudo was first minted in Malta during the reign of Piero de Ponte. The quality of the coins improved especially during the reign of António Manoel de Vilhena in the early 18th century. At some points in time, foreign coinage was allowed to circulate in Malta alongside the scudo. These included Spanish dollars ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Knights Of Malta
The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta ( it, Sovrano Militare Ordine Ospedaliero di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme, di Rodi e di Malta; la, Supremus Militaris Ordo Hospitalarius Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani Rhodiensis et Melitensis), commonly known as the Order of Malta or Knights of Malta, is a Catholic lay religious order, traditionally of a military, chivalric, and noble nature. Though it possesses no territory, the order is often considered a sovereign entity of international law, as it maintains diplomatic relations with many countries. The Order claims continuity with the Knights Hospitaller, a chivalric order that was founded about 1099 by the Blessed Gerard in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The order is led by an elected prince and grand master. Its motto is (''defence of the faith and assistance to the poor''). The Order venerates the Virgin Mary as its patrones ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Military Personnel From Florence
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct military uniform. It may consist of one or more military branches such as an army, navy, air force, space force, marines, or coast guard. The main task of the military is usually defined as defence of the state and its interests against external armed threats. In broad usage, the terms ''armed forces'' and ''military'' are often treated as synonymous, although in technical usage a distinction is sometimes made in which a country's armed forces may include both its military and other paramilitary forces. There are various forms of irregular military forces, not belonging to a recognized state; though they share many attributes with regular military forces, they are less often referred to as simply ''military''. A nation's military may ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
17th-century Italian Military Personnel
The 17th century lasted from January 1, 1601 ( MDCI), to December 31, 1700 ( MDCC). It falls into the early modern period of Europe and in that continent (whose impact on the world was increasing) was characterized by the Baroque cultural movement, the latter part of the Spanish Golden Age, the Dutch Golden Age, the French ''Grand Siècle'' dominated by Louis XIV, the Scientific Revolution, the world's first public company and megacorporation known as the Dutch East India Company, and according to some historians, the General Crisis. From the mid-17th century, European politics were increasingly dominated by the Kingdom of France of Louis XIV, where royal power was solidified domestically in the civil war of the Fronde. The semi-feudal territorial French nobility was weakened and subjugated to the power of an absolute monarchy through the reinvention of the Palace of Versailles from a hunting lodge to a gilded prison, in which a greatly expanded royal court could be more easily k ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1673 Deaths
Events January–March * January 22 – Impostor Mary Carleton is hanged at Newgate Prison in London, for multiple thefts and returning from penal transportation. * February 10 – Molière's ''comédie-ballet'' '' The Imaginary Invalid'' premiers in Paris. During the fourth performance, on February 17, the playwright, playing the title rôle, collapses on stage, dying soon after. * March 29 – Test Act: Roman Catholics and others who refuse to receive the sacrament of the Church of England cannot vote, hold public office, preach, teach, attend the universities or assemble for meetings in England. On June 12, the king's Catholic brother, James, Duke of York, is forced to resign the office of Lord High Admiral because of the Act. April–June * April 27 – ''Cadmus et Hermione'', the first opera written by Jean-Baptiste Lully, premières at the Paris Opera in France. * May 17 – In America, trader Louis Joliet and Jesuit missionary-explo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Valletta
Valletta (, mt, il-Belt Valletta, ) is an Local councils of Malta, administrative unit and capital city, capital of Malta. Located on the Malta (island), main island, between Marsamxett Harbour to the west and the Grand Harbour to the east, its population within administrative limits in 2014 was 6,444. According to the data from 2020 by Eurostat, the Functional Urban Area and metropolitan region covered the whole island and has a population of 480,134. Valletta is the southernmost capital of Europe, and at just , it is the European Union's smallest capital city. Valletta's 16th-century buildings were constructed by the Hospitaller Malta, Knights Hospitaller. The city was named after Jean Parisot de Valette, who succeeded in defending the island from an Ottoman invasion during the Great Siege of Malta. The city is Baroque architecture, Baroque in character, with elements of Mannerist architecture#Mannerist architecture, Mannerist, Neoclassical architecture, Neo-Classical and Mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grand Harbour
The Grand Harbour ( mt, il-Port il-Kbir; it, Porto Grande), also known as the Port of Valletta, is a natural harbour on the island of Malta. It has been substantially modified over the years with extensive docks (Malta Dockyard), wharves, and fortifications. Description The harbour mouth faces north east and is bounded to the north by Saint Elmo Point and further sheltered by an isolated breakwater and is bounded to the south by Ricasoli Point. Its north west shore is formed by the Sciberras peninsula, which is largely covered by the city of Valletta and its suburb Floriana. This peninsula also divides Grand Harbour from a second parallel natural harbour, Marsamxett Harbour. The main waterway of Grand Harbour continues inland almost to Marsa. The southeastern shore of the harbour is formed by a number of inlets and headlands, principally Rinella Creek, Kalkara Creek, Dockyard Creek, and French Creek, which are covered by Kalkara and the Three Cities: Cospicua, Vittoriosa, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies south of Sicily (Italy), east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The official languages are Maltese and English, and 66% of the current Maltese population is at least conversational in the Italian language. Malta has been inhabited since approximately 5900 BC. Its location in the centre of the Mediterranean has historically given it great strategic importance as a naval base, with a succession of powers having contested and ruled the islands, including the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, Romans, Greeks, Arabs, Normans, Aragonese, Knights of St. John, French, and British, amongst others. With a population of about 516,000 over an area of , Malta is the world's tenth-smallest country in area and fourth most densely populated sovereign cou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
