Hosting in Naples: Mediterranean and pilgrims between medieval heritage and modern care.

Second half of the 16th century. Fabrizio Pignatelli was a knight of Malta's order and a noble of the Neapolitan aristocracy. He came from a chivalric culture, he supported the conflict against turkeys and the defense of La Valletta. As he got older he felt himself closer to a essential spiritual root of Saint John's Order: Hosting. Therefore, he decided to found a pilgrims hospital in Naples, just in the middle of the Mediterranean and in one of most populous cities of that time. Death hit before he'd be done, but the foundation went on. As Naples experiences the catholic reform, executors, guilds, merchants, brotherhoods and other social figures kept on working on the hospital's foundation giving birth to the Company of Pilgrims and the structure. Over the centuries, the place was enlarged and enriched. The hospital became prestigious and the organization was adapted to the periods and arranged for the jubilees. Meanwhile Rome became the "New Jerusalem" of the Catholic Christianity, the pilgrims flow changed; the spirituality and the hospitality changed; the societies involved in the life of the hospital changed while the foundation became - it still exists - internationally known. The medieval roots and the aristocratic elements have remained over the centuries, sometimes in contrast with the laic instance, sometimes, instead, embracing the new forms of solidarity and of association. The pilgrim figure evolved too. We would like to examine this complex reality.