Origins The early history of Freemasonry in the Italian peninsula precedes the unification of the country in 1859–60, and must be dealt with as it occurs in separate states. A minute of 1845 records a lodge called
Fidelitas being founded at
Girifalco in
Calabria in 1723. In spite of the lack of earlier records, this is often cited as the first
Masonic Lodge in Italy. Lack of documentation is a major problem in tracing the history of Italian Freemasonry. Many documents were burned by
Fascists in the 1920s, often assisted by Freemasons who wished to destroy any record of their own participation.
Tuscany Sometime before August 1732,
Lord Charles Sackville, then Earl of Middlesex, later the second Duke of Dorset, founded a lodge in Florence which later attracted Italian noblemen and intellectuals. It also attracted the interest of the Inquisition, and its Italian secretary,
Tommaso Crudeli, was imprisoned and tortured, later dying as a result. Two lodges were formed in
Livorno in 1763 and 1765 under the
Antient Grand Lodge of England, and the
Premier Grand Lodge of England produced two more in the same city in 1771. Lodges were also formed when French troops were quartered in Leghorn in 1796–97, but all were closed by the Grand Duke in 1800. Lodges were again formed in Florence and Leghorn in 1807-09 after annexation by France, but the end of French rule in 1814 meant the end of Freemasonry until Tuscany became part of the Italian State in 1859.
Naples and the Two Sicilies A masonic seal dated to 1728 in Naples appears to belong to a lodge named "Perfect Union", about which nothing else is known. No trace, likewise, can be found of the lodge patented in London in 1731 to be formed in Naples. In 1750, a Neapolitan lodge was established by a Greek, but after the publication, on 28 May 1751, of the Bull
Providas Romanorum Pontificum issued by
Pope Benedict XIV to reiterate the papal condemnation of 1738, Charles VII of Bourbon (who later became King
Charles III of Spain) issued an edict (10 July 1751) that prohibited Freemasonry in the
Kingdom of Naples. He changed his mind the next year, entrusting his son's education to a Mason and a priest. In 1764 a national Grand Lodge was established, and Freemasonry seemed firmly established in the
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. However, in 1775 Tannuci, a minister of Ferdinand IV, persuaded him to ban Freemasonry again. Using
Agents provocateurs Tannuci induced some masons to meet illegally, which allowed him to make arrests. Queen Caroline then intervened on the mason's behalf, convincing her husband to revoke the edict and dismiss Tannuci. In 1781 the ban was renewed, and its revocation two years later came with such restrictions that Freemasonry in the Two Sicilies died out. Flourishing briefly during the French occupation from 1804 to 1814, the ban was again imposed on their expulsion. Freemasonry in the Two Sicilies had a fitful, clandestine existence, last recorded in Palermo in 1848. In 1904 the first lodge of
Le Droit Humain was installed in Rome by
Annie Besant. The subsequent lodges were organized into a Federation in 1916. Le Droit Humain is the oldest Freemasonry for Men and Women in Italy. In 1914, at the fourteenth national congress of the
Italian Socialist Party, held in
Ancona,
Mussolini managed to impose his motion for the incompatibility between party membership and Freemasonry, winning over that of the freemason
Alfredo Poggi who was instead in favor.
Repression under Fascism As
Benito Mussolini rose to power, many of Italy's Freemasons became ardent fascists, and some helped organise Mussolini's
March on Rome. However, in 1923 Freemasonry was declared incompatible with Fascism, and in spite of protestations of loyalty from the Grand Lodge, was banned outright in 1925. General
Luigi Capello was expelled from the party in 1923 for refusing to leave his lodge, and the next year was accused of plotting to assassinate Mussolini. He was sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment. In the wake of the verdict, the Grand Master of the Grand Orient and 44 other masons were sent, without trial, into exile in the
Lipari Islands. Italian Freemasonry continued in exile, with Italian masons contributing to the Republican cause in the
Spanish Civil War. Freemasonry did not return to Italy until the fall of Fascism towards the end of the Second World War.
Rebuilding after fascism On 4 December 1943, in the house of Salvatore Farina in Rome, members of the Grand Lodge of Italy reconstituted the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite, electing Carlo de Cantellis as Sovereign Grand Commander. There followed years of schism and confusion, as different groups attempted to revive their own brand of Freemasonry. The Grand Orient of Italy was recognised by the
United Grand Lodge of England on 13 September 1972 (the recognition was transferred to the
Regular Grand Lodge of Italy in 1993, although many other regular Grand Lodges continue to recognise the Grand Orient). In 1973, attempts to unite the Grand Orient and the Grand Lodge failed due to the Grand Lodge's acceptance of female initiation. Nevertheless, 200 lodges of the Grand Lodge transferred their allegiance to the Grand Orient. The Grand Lodge, under Giovanni Ghinazzi, continued in its own tradition and continued to prosper.
Propaganda Due A major scandal affecting the Grand Orient arose in the 1980s from the exposure of illegal activity in a lodge called
Propaganda Due (P2). The lodge was originally formed in 1877 as
Propaganda massonica. Its purpose was to ensure privacy for masons of national importance, both within and outside the organization. Refounded after World War II (hence
P2), it was under the direct control of the Grand Master of the Grand Orient until the advent of
Licio Gelli. After Gelli's appointment as master in 1975, he was able to gather together in secret at least a thousand prominent individuals, mainly politicians and State administrators, and the publication of his subversive program of
socio-political and institutional structure caused one of the worst political scandals in the history of the Italian Republic. On 31 October 1981, seven months after the discovery of the lists of affiliates of P2, the central court of the Grand Orient of Italy, presided over by the new grandmaster Armando Corona, expelled Gelli to avoid further scandals. They stated that P2 had been suspended in 1976. A Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry, chaired by
Tina Anselmi, concluded that the lodge was subversive, and a "
criminal organization". The lodge was legally dissolved on 25 January 1982. The P2 scandal seriously damaged the image of Freemasonry in Italy, damaging all the various Italian Masonic movements, and not just the Grand Orient of Italy, of which P2 was a part. In 1993, in the aftermath of a further judicial inquiry, the so-called
Cordova investigation (after the Public Prosecutor of Palmi, Agostino Cordova), the then Grand Master of the Grand Orient of Italy, Giuliano Di Bernardo (
it), elected to distance himself from the organisation, founding the Regular Grand Lodge of Italy (
it), which immediately gained (and still retains) the recognition of the
United Grand Lodge of England.
Holidays The feast of Italian Freemasonry is celebrated on
20 September each year, on occasion of the anniversary of the
breach of Porta Pia. == Main masonic obediences ==