ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the administration of the Order's estates in Italy. The first section offers a general point of view on this topic and the second section observes the specific economic strategies employed by the brethren. Not all economic activities were intended to bring immediate and maximum gains and a big part of the patrimony was leased out to local inhabitants for small annual rents. Every single bailiwick and in many cases also single commanderies had their own economic strategies which were based on local traditions: that did though not prevent the Order from applying innovative methods. There were cases of direct management of the estates by the Order's personnel and many others where the economy was in private hands. The final goal of these activities and strategies was the furnishing of the Holy Land with supplies. Then, from the fourteenth century, part of the income was sent to the Order's superiors but most of it remained in Italy.
