Giacomo dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto (9 December 1944 – 29 April 2020) was the 80th Prince and Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

He was elected by the Council Complete of State on 2 May 2018 and took the oath of office on 3 May 2018. 

His full title was "His Most Eminent Highness Fra' Giacomo dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto, Prince and Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta, Most Humble Guardian of the Poor of Jesus Christ".

Family and career

Born in Rome, dalla Torre was a member of a comital family originally from Treviso.

His father, Paolo dalla Torre (1910–1993), 3rd Count of Sanguinetto, an art historian, was Director General of the Vatican Museums from 1961 to 1975. His mother was Antonietta Pulvirenti De Grazia. 

His brother, Giuseppe dalla Torre, a lawyer, is President of the Tribunal of the Vatican City State and was formerly Lieutenant General of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre. 

His grandfather Giuseppe Dalla Torre (1885–1967), a journalist, was director of the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano from 1920 to 1960.

Dalla Torre studied Christian archeology and art history at the Sapienza University of Rome. He held academic posts at the Pontifical Urban University, where he taught classical Greek. He served as that school's Chief Librarian and Archivist. He has published widely on medieval art history.

Order of Malta

Dalla Torre became a Knight of Honour and Devotion of the Sovereign Order in 1985 and took vows as a Knight of Justice in 1993. In 1994 he was elected Grand Prior of Lombardy and Venice, a position he held until 1999. From 1999 to 2004 he was a member of the Sovereign Council.

In 2004, dalla Torre was elected Grand Commander of the Order. In 2008, as Grand Commander, he automatically became Lieutenant ad interim (acting head of the Order) upon the death of the 78th Prince and Grand Master, Fra' Andrew Bertie, on 7 February until the election of the 79th Prince and Grand Master, Fra' Matthew Festing, on 11 March.

On 24 January 2009, dalla Torre was elected Grand Prior of Rome. He was re-elected Grand Prior of Rome on 12 February 2015 and held the position until he was elected Lieutenant of the Grand Master in 2017.

On 29 April 2017, three months after the resignation of Fra' Matthew Festing as Prince and Grand Master, dalla Torre was elected acting head of the Order of Malta as Lieutenant of the Grand Master. 

He held this position until 2 May 2018 when he was elected Prince and Grand Master.

Death

Dalla Torre died in Rome shortly after midnight on 29 April 2020 of an incurable disease diagnosed several months earlier.  He was 75.

Publications

• "La biblioteca e l'archivio di 'Propaganda fide': prospettive di ricerca". In Ordini religiosi, santita e culti: prospettive di ricerca tra Europa e America Latina : atti del Seminario di Roma, 21–22 giugno 2001 (Galatina: Congedo, 2009), p. 153–191.

• Frammenti di storia familiare, 2012 (with Giuseppe dalla Torre). Roma: Aracne, 2013.

• "Una scena rara e controversa della scultura paleocristiana", Bollettino dei musei comunali di Roma 19 (1972): 22–26.

Honours

•  Sovereign Military Order of Malta
  • Knight Grand Cross since 2017 Collar of the Order pro Merito Melitensi

•  Bailiff Knight Grand Cross of Justice of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George (House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies) (1995)
•  Knight Grand Cross with Star of Gold of the Order of Prince Danilo I (House of Petrović-Njegoš) (31 January 2006)
•  Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (3 April 2006)
•  Collar of the Order of Saint Januarius (17 December 2018)
•  Grand Cross of the Cameroon Order of Valour (18 July 2018)
•  Grand Cross Special Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (21 October 2019)