The Priory of the Knights of Malta is a “must visit” hidden place in Rome. In may I had the chance to visit it and today I want to tell you something about my visit. The priory is located in Piazza dei Cavalieri di Malta, on the Aventine Hill (once called “Mons Serpent”): designed by Piranesi, this is a “funerary plaza”
for the most important families who, in ancient times, lived in this area. The tombstones were built “overexposed to the public” because of their main function as “reminders” for those who passed through the square (remider about the importance of these few families).
First of all I would give you just few historic information about the order: you can enter the order only by co-option (that means that you must be presented, obviously by someone who is already a Knight of Malta); there are three orders of knights and only the first one,  the “order of professed knights”, live according to the vows of chastity, obedience and poverty; their boat is the only private boat used to help migrants with all the other boats taking part in the FRONTEX program.
Since 1869 the priory has the benefit of extraterritoriality. After a first introductory explanation, our guide take us into the  priory garden (which was the fulcrum of the entire guided tour), This is an italian garden “with influences”as the rose garden. In the garden there is one of the two most ancient cedars of Rome: a giant tree which is “just” 200 years old (the other cedar is located at the Pincio terrace, near piazza del popolo). That day, unfortunately, we could not enjoy the garden as we should have because of the rain that accompanied us throughout the visit, but it is unassailable the fact that the garden was built in a magnificent way.
After that we continued the visit along the driveway which overlooks St. Peter, we stopped to admire the view from the terrace and then we went to the “Hall of coats of arms“:  there you can find all the knights’ coats of arms; among them, the few highlighted are the Grand Masters’ coats. The grandmaster is “the religious superior and sovereign, as well as the supreme institutional authority, as head of state with the title of prince. He is elected by the Council Complete of State from among the professed knights of the order and the duration of his tenure is for life”.
To end our visit, we went to the Cluniac church (Santa Maria del Priorato). The origins of this church, whose original name was Sancta Maria de Aventino, are dated back to 939:
Alberico II converted his palace on the Aventine in a Benedictine monastery who entrusted to Odo of Cluny. In 1764 he was given by Cardinal Rezzonico (just became Grand Master of the Order), Giovan Battista Piranesi the task to restructure the church.  The artist redrew completely the church, which is “the only complete work” known among those made by Piranesi.
Because of the vow of poverty made by the order, Piranesi decided to use “stucco” as material to build both the interior and exterior. Inside the church there is a statue of Piranesi himself:  the artist is wearing a Roman toga, while he is holding a chart of Paestum (his latest work); the altar was made by Righi, the stonemason Piranesi normally worked with. Piranesi is buried in the crypt. Down the aisle there are the flags of countries where once there were the order groups (Spain, France, Portugal, etc); the canopy on the left of the altar,is the place reserved for the Grand Master during services. Today the order still keeps the hospital mandate and makes diplomatic mediation between the countries which “need diplomatic assistance” to talk each other.
Thanks to political disengagement, the order has numerous ambassadors around the world. France, which once “housed” one of the largest groups of knights, ironically today does not recognize the order except as a private association: this is because it was disbanded during the French Revolution and was never reconstituted.
The tour was organized by the “cooperativa il sogno” ad I must thanks our guide Gianluca Farris who, with his sympathy, explained us perfectly all the things he has to tell us.