Keywords

Santo Stefano, the Order of Santo Stefano, voyage, ships, galleys, Italy, Mediterranean

Abstract

On 12 April 1627 a fleet of six galleys belonging to the Order of Santo Stefano set sail from Livorno on their expedition "contro il comune nemico"–the Turks. This journey would take them along the western and southern coast of Italy, through the Ionian Sea to the Peloponnese and across the Aegean Sea to the Dardanelles. Along the way the sailors encountered many vessels, both friend and foe, heard reports of sea battles and movements of ships in those waters, and listened to an account of a miracle wrought by the Virgin Mary. After having engaged in two fierce skirmishes with Turkish vessels, the fleet of the Order returned victorious to Italy, arriving in Taranto on 30 June 1627.

Original Publication Citation

"The Order of Santo Stefano in the Levant: An Unpublished Account of a Voyage in 1627" (with Christopher Kleinhenz), Viator 21 (1990), 323-347.