ABSTRACT
The chapter highlights the process of circulation of information in the early modern Mediterranean (1683–1721), reconstructing the mindset of the Maltese proto-journalists who were producing them for the Vatican secretary of state with respect to what news was considered to be important and how they were presented. The original archival sources are the manuscript avvisi sent weekly from Malta to Rome, now preserved in the Archivio Segreto Vaticano. The analysis on the production and dispatching of news from Malta is based on three parameters – i.e. the identification of the agent (the inquisitor of Malta), the island’s key role as a news’ gathering point and the nature of the transmitted information. The enquiry allows us to point out how the choice of what was considered to be meaningful information changed over time, together with Malta’s role in the Mediterranean balance of power. Finally, the change of the documentation’s literary register over time allows us to assume that, despite their confidential nature, the Maltese avvisi began to be meant for a wider audience.
