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When, in September 1635, the famous Italian military engineer Pietro Paolo Floriani arrived in Malta to undertake and implement his plans for the extension of fortification works outside the city of Valletta, he had with him as his assistant Francesco Buonamici, an architect and painter from Lucca who was then in his late thirties. The Floriani mission, which commenced at the request of Grand Master Antoine de Paule, enjoyed the protection of Cardinal Francesco Barberini, the powerful nephew of Pope Urban VIII. Cardinal Barberini had rallied experts who were close to him and instructed the Papal Legate and Inquisitor in Malta, Mgr Fabio Chigi, to extend his protection directly over them while they were on the island. ; N/A

Ubiquitous in ancient Greek culture, the ethical principle of xenía may broadly translate as hospitality to strangers, doing so through taking interpersonal, political, and architectural form. Since xenía includes the accommodation of foreign guests, some evidence of xenía in architecture is logically found in houses and hostels, but surprisingly more evidence surrounds Athens' Theatre of Dionysus, on stage in Aristophanes' Peace and Euripides' Cyclops, and off stage through the architects elected to look after the sanctuary of the theatre. This paper reveals the principle of xenía permeating the professional work of the architect to such a degree that Vitruvius and Demosthenes would reproach even slight digressions from the principle, and Vitruvius would call the education of xenía the most valuable thing to outlast a shipwreck.

Ubiquitous in ancient Greek culture, the ethical principle of xenía may broadly translate as hospitality to strangers, doing so through taking interpersonal, political, and architectural form. Since xenía includes the accommodation of foreign guests, some evidence of xenía in architecture is logically found in houses and hostels, but surprisingly more evidence surrounds Athens' Theatre of Dionysus, on stage in Aristophanes' Peace and Euripides' Cyclops, and off stage through the architects elected to look after the sanctuary of the theatre. This paper reveals the principle of xenía permeating the professional work of the architect to such a degree that Vitruvius and Demosthenes would reproach even slight digressions from the principle, and Vitruvius would call the education of xenía the most valuable thing to outlast a shipwreck.