02/09/2019: Baglioni Hotel Luna in Venice, a templar story

For the Templars, Venice was a highly strategic place, the eastern gate.

In Venice the Templars had different possessions.

Their main seat was in San Giovanni Battista del Tempio, in Castello, in what is now the Church and seat of the Order of Malta.

But in Venice there is another very famous ancient Templar possession: it is the building that today houses the famous Baglioni Hotel Luna.

In 1119, the Venetian Templars built a church and a monastery called Santa Maria in capo di Broglio, also known as Santa Maria de Brolo (Brolo is the archaic garden termn), right next to the current Piazza San Marco and behind the church of San Moisè.

Already in 1144 a land “militum Templi Domini” is mentioned (Venetian Diplomatic Code, 4091 – W.Dorigo, Venezia Romanica, II vol. 2003, p. 772), therefore only 26 years after the establishment of the Order.

The complex also arose with the financial support of the State and was handed over to the Knights Templar.

Next to the monastery of Santa Maria de Brolo, the Templars also built an inn, called “Locanda della Luna”, a meeting place for the Templar people of Venice.

Over the centuries the temple complex underwent several changes and today the complex is home to the prestigious Baglioni Hotel Luna.

In 2019 the Baglioni Hotel Luna returned to being a temple site, having received the title of Grange from the Order of the Pauperes Commilitones Christi Templique Salomonis – V.E.O.S.P.S.S. – MCXVIII.

The ceremony for the awarding of the Certificate of Recognition conferred to the New York Fire Department (NYFD) on 28 August 2019 took place in the fireplace room, where in ancient times stood the Church of Santa Maria in capo di Broglio.