Bahá'í Faith in Italy
Encyclopedia
The Bahá'í Faith
in Italy
dates from 1899 - the earliest known date for Bahá'ís in Italy. Bahá'í sources currently claim about 3,000 adherents in Italy in over 300 locations. The Association of Religion Data Archives
(relying mostly on projections from the World Christian Encyclopedia
) estimated some 4,900 Bahá'ís in Italy in 2005.
`Abdu'l-Bahá
, head of the religion from 1892 to 1921, wrote two letters to Italian Bahá'ís and mentioned Italy a few times addressing issues of war and peace as well. Though several people joined the religion before World War II
by the end there may have been just one Bahá'í in the country. Soon a wave of pioneers
was coordinated with the first Bahá'ís to arrive were Angeline and Ugo Giachery
. By Ridván
1948 the first Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly of Rome was elected. There were six communities across Italy and Switzerland when a regional national assembly was formed in 1953. The Italian Bahá'ís elected their own National Spiritual Assembly in 1962. A survey of the community in 1963 showed 14 assemblies and 18 smaller communities. Major conferences held in Italy include the Palermo Conference of 1968 to commemorate from the movement of Bahá'u'lláh
, the founder of the religion, from Gallipoli to the prison in Acre and the 2009 regional conference for southern Europe in Padua about the progress of the religion.
addressed a message to Pope Pius IX
a few years before the unification of the Kingdom of Italy. It was part of the series entitled Súriy-i-Haykal or Tablet of the Temple which was collected in English as part of the Summons of the Lord of Hosts.
As early as 1899 there were two Bahá'ís in Italy - Edith Burr in Florence
and Maria Forni. Burr was an American and a book of her poetry was published. Forni was of Polish extraction, lived in Ticino
initially where she ran a private school for children with disabilities and presented Bahá'í teachings but soon she moved to Crevenna near Lake Como
. Both had died by 1930. Burr was the recipient of two letters from `Abdu'l-Bahá. It was in November 1900 that Agnes Alexander learned of the religion while visiting family in Rome. While there she met Charlotte Dixon, an American Bahá'í who was just returning from a Bahá'í pilgrimage
.
, a prominent early Bahá'í from the United States, went through Italy in 1909 on Bahá'í pilgrimage
to meet `Abdu'l-Bahá. Another, Horace Holley had set out for Europe in 1909 and met Bertha Herbert during the voyage. Herbert loaned him Myron Phelps' book about `Abdu'l-Bahá and Holley soon joined the religion. Herbert and Holley were married in October 1909 and settled in Italy. They then met `Abdu'l-Baha on both of his trips to Europe, and lived in Italy until 1912, when they moved to Paris. Maria Forni was among those who visited `Abdu'l-Bahá when he arrived in Switzerland in 1911 on his first trip to the West. On his second trip `Abdu'l-Bahá and his retinue boarded the RMS Cedric
in Alexandria, Egypt bound for Naples
where they arrived on March 28, 1912 though they did not disembark for fear of being confused with Turks during the ongoing Italo-Turkish War
. Several Bahá'ís from America and Britain boarded the ship to travel with them. A youthful Shoghi Effendi
had accompanied `Abdu'l-Bahá from Egypt but was refused further passage by reason of a minor illness and was taken ashore, though all were not convinced of the sincerity of the diagnosis and some presumed it was ill will against the voyagers as if they were Turkish. The American Bahá'ís had sent thousands of dollars for the journey, urging `Abdu'l-Bahá to leave the Cedric in Italy and travel to England to sail on the maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic. Instead he returned the money for charity and continued the voyage on the Cedric. Later a survivor met with him asking why he didn't go on the Titanic and he suggested "God inspires man's heart."
Later in April 1912 `Abdu'l-Bahá is recorded addressing that war:
While in the United States `Abdu'l-Bahá had dedicated the site of the North American Bahá'í House of Worship
. By 1915 Italian Bahá'ís were among those contributing to its construction. After his return to Egypt `Abdu'l-Bahá again took up mention of Italy and war. He wrote a series of letters, or tablets, to the followers of the religion in the United States
in 1916-1917; these letters were compiled together in the book Tablets of the Divine Plan
. The seventh of the tablets mentioned Europe
an regions and was written on April 11, 1916, but was delayed in being presented in the United States until 1919—after the end of the First World War
and the Spanish flu
. The seventh tablet was translated and presented on April 4, 1919, and published in Star of the West
magazine on December 12, 1919 and mentioned Italy. He says:
took a steamer to Italy about 1919-20, where he awaited `Abdu'l-Bahá's wire for him to proceed to Haifa. There was communication noted with Bahá'ís in Italy in 1923. Imogene Hoagg was noted as present in Florence in 1925. Marion Jack sailed for Italy during January, 1926. Anne Lynch fled Russia at the end of the first World War to settle in England and she accepted the Bahá'í Faith immediately upon first hearing of it in Italy in 1926 and then settled in Switzerland. A 1925 list of "leading local Bahá'í Centres" of Europe listed one in Italy. In 1930 a Bahá'í from Baghdad, a Mr. Toeg, was said to have moved to Milan. The first formal vote of international sanctions against aggression, taken in 1936 by the League of Nations
, when Fascist Italy
invaded Ethiopia causing the Second Italo-Abyssinian War
, was hailed by Shoghi Effendi
, head of the religion from 1921 to 1957, as: "an event without parallel in human history". On May 25, 1940 Shoghi Effendi and Rúhíyyih Khanum
obtained passports for Britain while in Rome - a few days later Italy entered World War II
.
to Europe; the pioneers setup a European Teaching Committee chaired by Edna True. Possibly the first Bahá'ís after WWII to enter Italy were Angeline and Ugo Giachery
. They reached Naples on 20 February 1947 and sent a telegram to Shoghi Effendi from Rome. By the end of March the first Italian convert was enrolled in Genoa. He was Augnsto Salvetti who heard of the religion from a Persian believer while he was a prisoner of war in India and investigated the religion on return to Italy. Brother Rodolfo Salvetti soon followed joining the religion - and pioneers Mr. and Mrs. Phillip Marengella arrived in Italy by mid-1947. There was also one Bahá'í in Milan - perhaps a Turkish refugee. By early 1948 two more Italians had joined the religion - Verena Venturini and Luigi Peveri. By Ridván
1948 the first Local Spiritual Assembly of Rome was elected. In 1948, Marion Little pioneered to Florence from America. Well known Bahá'í Dorothy Beecher Baker who was later named as a Hand of the Cause undertook a trip from 1948 across Europe including visiting Italy. Publications in Italian began with an introductory pamphlet which was sent to prominent citizens and to four hundred public libraries. This was followed by a new edition of John Esslemont
's Bahá`u'lláh and the New Era, a special copy of which, bound in tooled green leather, was sent to the archives of the Bahá'í Faith in Palestine. Until 1964 when she returned to America, she served as chairman of the Italian Publishing Committee, a field which gave scope to her artistic and administrative skills. Under her direction and guidance many of the major Writings of the Faith were translated into Italian and published. She died in 1980 and her body buried in Cap d'Ail Cemetery, near Monaco
. William Sutherland Maxwell
came to Italy to begin reviewing materials for the expansion of the Shrine of the Bab
in 1948 which continued through 1951 with shipments to Palestine for the project. Architect Andrea Rocca, Professor Emeritus of the Beaux Arts Academy of Carrara, assisted in work with the Shrine as well as the later International Archives building. The first all-Bahá'í Italian family came to be in April 1949 followed by the conversion of 81 year old Giuseppe Berardi by July.
in the presence of Hand of the Cause Paul E. Haney and Ugo Giachary and Edna True, Chairman of the European Teaching Committee and who represented the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States at the proceedings. The proceedings included announcements of letters of `Abdu'l-Bahá to Italians, noted the attendance of 18 of the 19 delegates, elected the officers of the convention, welcomed guests, discussed the progress of the religion in the region, the role of the Bahá'í institutions, celebrated the Ridván
events, and the actual secret ballot election of the national assembly. Its first members were: Dr. Ugo Giachery, Friedrich Schar, Dr. Alessandro Bausani, Marion Little, Prof. Mario Fiorentini, Anna Kunz, Stella Lanzar, Anne Lynch, and Elsa Steinmetz. Letters from the eleven other national assemblies then in existence were shared and there was an announcement that these assemblies were welcomed to a continental conference in Sweden later in the same year. Workshops at the convention were held on Bahá'í administration
and tributes paid to various firsts in the community. A public session was then held at which Ugo Giachery spoke on the theme of a universal fermentation giving rise to civilization. Alessandro Bausani was a member of this regional assembly during all the years of its existence.
in Sardinia and was appointed by Shoghi Effendi as a Knight of Bahá'u'lláh. In January 1954 it was announced Hand of the Cause Dorothy Beecher Baker had died in a plane crash near the island of Elba en route to Rome from Pakistan
where she had toured after helping an international conference in India. In February that all the goals assigned to Italy and Switzerland had all been settled by pioneers: Liechtenstein
, Monaco
, San Marino
, and the islands of Sicily
, Sardinia
and Rhodes
. In September Italy and Switzerland held its first summer school - 75 Bahá'ís attended the classes held in Bex les Bains. Following the work on the Shrine of the Báb further contracts were signed for materials and work for the International Archives building. The 3rd convention of the election of the Italo-Swiss assembly noted local assemblies had been elected in the goal location of Monte Carlo
, Monaco. On 9 May 1955, following disruption of the Bahá'í community of Tehran Iran, the Shah's personal physician, Abdol Karim Ayadi, a Bahá'í, was told to leave the country for a while. For this reason he went to Italy for about nine months. Rita van Sombeek had been living in the Netherlands from 1947 but moved to Italy in the early 1950s where she served the interests of the religion. In 1955 the national center building of the Bahá'ís of Italy was dedicated in Rome. After causing Bahá'í divisions
in 1957, Charles Mason Remey, took up residence in Florence where he died in April 1974. The local assembly of Palermo
was first elected in 1958. The first spiritual assemblies of Genova
and Milano were elected in 1959. By 1959 Italian Julio Savi was an active Bahá'í doing work in Ethiopia
. Italian Augusto Robiati also became a Bahá'í in Ethiopia and Savi and Robiati later returned to Italy. In years to come Robiati would win peace and literary prizes. In 1959 Italian materials, after being part of the Shrine of the Báb and the building of the International Archives, began to be incorporated into the Bahá'í House of Worship
in Kampala. The first local assemblies of Venice
, Turin
, and Perugia
were all elected in 1960 (the first Baha'i arrived in Perugia in 1959.) Bahá'ís with a background or interest in pioneering gathered in Rome in November 1960 and discussed goals remaining in the country in three languages as well as holding classes on the subjects of the Universal House of Justice and "Catholic Psychology and Bahá'í Faith" and other topics. Hand of the Cause Enoch Olinga
visited many places including Sicily and mainland Italy in 1960 and again in 1971. Julio Savi was a member of the local assembly of Bologna
which first formed April 1961 while the first Trieste
, Padua
, and Bari
assemblies also formed. Hand of the Cause Shu'á'u'lláh 'Alá'i visited the Bahá'ís of Milan in 1961. In early 1962 Hand of the Cause `Alí-Akbar Furútan
visited Bahá'ís in Florence and Milan. The 1962 edition of the Italian Books and Periodicals, a review of Italian language publications by the government listed Le lezioni di San Giovanni d'Acri which was an independent translation of Some Answered Questions
.
gathered Bahá'ís and guests from Bologna, Florence, Padua, Rimini
and San Marino. In October there were three events held to honor the United Nations. The first two were talks by Dr. Alessandro Bausani, member of the Italo-Swiss National Assembly and professor of oriental languages at the Universities of Rome and Naples, on the theme of "United Nations and a United World" in Florence and Bologna. The third event was Auxiliary Board member Mario Piarulli who spoke in Padua about the UN before an international audience. A feature writer of the Socialist newspaper Avanti
interviewed Bausani, and then wrote an account, not only of the meeting but also of the religion in general. A public initiative in Turin drew about eighty people from Genoa, Milan and Turin to hear Ugo Giachery speak about his slide-illustrated recent visit to Central America. This was followed by a series of six public meetings to give anyone interested an opportunity to investigate the religion. The average attendance was about seventy. In Bologna a public meeting was held where the audience heard Dr. Giachery on "Bahá'í approaches to modern problems". Another public meeting took place in Padua among youth.
David Ned Blackmer Hossein Mahboubi, Teresa Taffa, Augusto Robiati, Heshmat Moayyad, Mario Fiorentini, Manutcher Majzub, Hossein Avaregan, and Mario Piarulli. Bausani was a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of Italy for twenty years until 1984. A total of 141 Bahá'ís came to the first Italian summer school, held in September near Rimini. Non-Baha'is also participated in some of the classes. Hand of the Cause Ugo Giachery gave a talk on "The Historical, Religious and Literary Work of Shoghi Effendi."
In 1963 the members of the national assemblies then in existence were the delegates for the first election of the Universal House of Justice
. The members of the Italian assembly were Professor Hossein Avaregan, Alessandro Bausani, David Ned Blackmer, Professor Mario Fiorentini, Manoutchehr Madjzoub, Hossein Mahboubi, Mario Piarulli, Augusto Robiati, and Teresa Taffa; six of whom were able to attend the convention itself.
The Bahá'í communities of Italy in 1963 were:
on religions that originated in Persia - the Bahá'í Faith in particular. In 1968 public meetings were held in Perugia
, Milan, Anacapri
, and in Palermo at Fiera del Mediterraneo. A public meeting for about 250 people was held at the town theater in Rimini in November 1968 with a piano recital and talk by Prof. Bausani. In May 1969 Prof. Bausani gave a talk at a public meeting in Lipari
at which some 60 people attended - the subject was on "the atomic age and the crisis in today's society" and mentioned the religion. The series of events drew a week of attention in Mantova in November 1969. The aim was to reach the greater part of the population of the city and have the Faith known, at least in name. Copies of The Proclamation of Bahá'u'lláh were presented to leading local dignitaries and a number of events were held: public conferences, round-table discussions, a concert, and slide shows. World Religion Day was observed by the Bahá'ís in Rome with an interfaith public round table discussion at the Accademia Tiberina on the theme of "Religion as an instrument of peace and unity". In May 1971 a public event was held on Ischia
island with youth performers. The Bahá'ís of Rimini held a conference in October 1975 in observance of International Women's Year
. The city of Milan invited the Bahá'ís for a public presentation so the Bahá'ís organized a series of six lectures on various Bahá'í teachings
.
was among the teachers of that year. The 1965 Italian summer school was held again in Bellaria near Rimini. This year the committee doubled reserved rooms and did so for two weeks instead of one. Happily 284 Bahá'ís attended from sixteen countries and more than twenty non-Baha'is attended. Two Hands of the Cause were present to teach classes - John Ferraby
("The Charters of the Cause of God,") and Abu'l-Qásim Faizi
("The Meaning of History from the Bahá'í Point of View"). The following year among the presentators for the 287 students was Dr. Firuz Kazemzadeh
, former chairman of the National Assembly of the United States, and Prof. Alessandro Bausani, who, in addition to giving two courses, translated for the English, Persian and French speaking teachers. In 1965 the youth of Milan began holding weekend classes and a national youth committee was operating.
A Youth Symposium was held at Rimini in March 1967 with over 120 attending; a graduate of the first training institute gave the public talk. The sixth Italian summer school took place at Contursi, near Naples, in September, 1967, with 169 participants from thirteen countries. Speakers and teachers of classes included Prof. Bausani and Dr. Giachery, Mr. Rosapepe, the attorney who obtained the recognition of the Faith in Italy and owner of the hotel where the school was held, Philip Hainsworth, member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the British Isles, Auxiliary Board member Dr. Eric Blumenthal, Augusto Robiati, Auxiliary Board member James Holmlund. The youth organized round-table discussions and afterwards a public conference was organized at the University Club. In the spring of 1968 the National Youth Committee of Italy organized a school at Passignano on the shores of Lake Trasimeno
with 110 attendees. In September 1969 the seventh Italian Summer School took place at Igea Marina. Two Hands of the Cause of God, Dr. Adelbert Mlihlschlegel and Jalal Khazeh, three members of the Continental Board of Counsellors, Mrs. D. Ferraby, Mr. L. Henuzet, Dr. E. Blumenthal, as well as a professor of the University of Milan and a young assistant professor from the University of Florence. The 1971 National Baha'i Youth School was held in Pisa
in April and was followed by a public conference and in June a Youth Symposium in San Marino was used to plan participation in a continental conference as well as a public meeting. In 1975 group of about 170 attended the National Youth Symposium at Florence. An additional school was held in Vieste as well. The September 1977 Bahá'í summer school was held in Giulianova
- one of the speakers was Adib Taherzadeh
. He was a speaker at the 1978 school along with others and a special guest Dr. Pagnanelli, director of the information center of the United Nations Organization in Rome, gave a public talk on "The First 30 Years of the United Nations Organization." Eight hundred-fifty people from 19 countries attended the 1983 Italian Bahá'í summer school in the southern city of Cosenza
. Special guests at the school were the Hand of the Cause Rúhíyyih Khanum
, who was making her first visit to the Italian Bahá'í community. About 120 children attended special classes arranged for them by the Italian National Children's Committee. The Austrian Dawnbreakers toured seven cities in Italy, presenting five concerts, taping two television shows, and appearing at former member of the ensemble, in three schools. Students in a Bahá'í children's class in 1988 in Milan raised money to sponsor a child in Haiti by paying his tuition for a year at the Anís Zunúzí Bahá'í School
. About 600 youth from 20 countries gathered for the European Bahá'í Youth Conference in San Marino including some 40 youth Bahá'ís from Turkey. Guest speakers included various ministers of government of San Marino and as covered on state television and six newspapers.
the National Spiritual Assembly of Italy appointed an Aid to Flood Victims Committee during the 1966 national conference on the progress of the religion in November. The members were: Houshyar Achraf, Mohammad Ravanbakhs, Col. Giulio Jacoviello , Sohrab Payment, and Maud Bosio. The first check received for the fund was from the Universal House of Justice
. City Hall furnished Letters of introduction to the Aid Centers of the most damaged districts in Florence and Brozzi. Before October 1967 a variety of assistance was provided: seventy-five families visited; fifty-nine families assisted with more than 1,600 garments; forty-eight families given bed linen, towels, etc.; twenty-seven woolen blankets furnished; beds, mattresses, pillows, electric stoves and furniture distributed. The sum of $735 (1967 dollars) was given as emergency help to twenty families.
(Centro Studi sulle Nuove Religion). Bausani was director of the Italian quarterly magazine Opinioni Bahá'í from its foundation which was published under authority of the national assembly starting in 1977. The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Italy initiated the publication of a special booklet for International Year of the Child
containing quotations from the Bahá'í scriptures on the education of children.
The religion entered a new phase of activity when a message of the Universal House of Justice
dated 20 October 1983 was released. Bahá'ís were urged to seek out ways, compatible with the Bahá'í teachings
, in which they could become involved in the social and economic development of the communities in which they lived. Worldwide in 1979 there were 129 officially recognized Bahá'í socio-economic development projects. By 1987, the number of officially recognized development projects had increased to 1482.
Italian Association of Baha'i Studies in 1990. Baha'i Association of Socio-Economic Development named after Gianni Ballerio was established in 2003 and operates over forty projects across Regions of Italy
.
In 1966 there were a number of developments. The Italian National Spiritual Assembly was able to register as an incorporated foundation under Italian law. The same year a gathering of Bahá'ís on Sardinia was coordinated and a talk given by Livia Pargentino, the first declared Sardinian Bahá'í. In 1966 two islands had their first pioneers- on the island of Capri
it was Rouhaughy Fahteazam , and on the island of Lipari
it was Teresa Taffa while in Sardinia there was the first Sardinian conversion occurred when Livia Pargentino joined the religion.
The first training institute for promulgating the religion in Italy was conducted by Mildred Mottahehdeh in February 1967. In 1968 a Catholic monk, Padre Marian, mentioned the religion on his television program and read the prayer by 'Abdu'l-Bahá. Also Maud Basio who aside from all her services (see below) was also mother of Mrs. Firuz Kazemzadeh
, died. In 1969 the Italian Bahá'í Publishing Trust was established and the national assembly established cooperative relations with the Italian Esperanto Federation. By September 1970 Alfredo Speranza, a noted pianist who moved to Italy, joined the religion as well as the first citizen of San Marino. In May 1976 a 1,000-word article reviewing the religion was printed in La Stampa
in Turin after interviewing the secretary of the national assembly A. Parsa, a member of the national assembly, was invited to start a weekly one-hour broadcast called "Programme Baha'i" on a station in Pisa. Other regular radio broadcasts began inBologna, Bolzano and Trofarello. Along with informational talks from Bahá'í teachings music was interspersed from various Baha'i musicians like Seals and Crofts
, Dizzy Gillespie
, England Dan and John Ford Coley as well as Italian artists. In February 1977 coordinated efforts focused the national community on Brescia, Cosenza and Salerno for one week and in Lipari, Messina and Trofarello the second week. At the end of the effort Salerno
elected an assembly. The assembly of Trieste rented display case for Bahá'í literature
at a bus terminal in Muggia
and also awarded trophies for service to humanity. Cosenza was the focus of some effort in August 1977 when traveling teachers visiting the pioneer there. It was decided to show some filmstrips but the living room would not hold the more than 12 people who attended they set up to show the film outside, against the wall of the house. The neighbors were glad to cooperate. The woman downstairs handed chairs from her apartment out the window. Filmstrips like The Bahá'ís and the Holy Land and part of the Green Light Expedition about Rúhíyyih Khanum
's travels in Bolivia and Peru. A month later the first assembly of Cosenza was elected.
In 1978 a diverse set of events took place in regards to the Bahá'í Faith in Italy. Some one hundred Bahá'ís met for a conference on the progress of the religion across Italy Florence in March 1978. All of the national assembly members were able to attend the April 1978 international convention to elect the Universal House of Justice which also served as an opportunity for the dedication of the Seat of the Universal House. The Italian firm Industria dei Marmi Vicentini, one of the largest of Italy at least since the 1990s, produced a brochure covering the dedication and building to acquaint potential customers with the quality of its work in architectural marble. The brochure tells of the history of the religion, the role of the Universal House of Justice, and gives some details of the design of the building itself. The firm points out that its quarries would provide 85000 cubic feet (2,406.9 m³) of "Caesar's White" marble similar to that from Penteliko Mountain that was used in The Parthenon which had 46 columns each 31.5 feet (9.6 m) high while the Seat of the Universal House of Justice has 58 columns each 33 feet (10.1 m) high. The workers were from Chiampo
. The Bahá'í Publishing Trust of Italy and the Local Spiritual Assembly of Milan pooled resources to hold a booth at the 56th annual Milan Trade Fair in April. Other booths in Fairs were held in Cagliari and for the first time in Bari. The displays included Bahá'í literature
- Milan's had materials in Arabic, English, Esperanto, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, as well as two books in Braille. A special guest at the Milan booth was the French Bahá'í author, Andre Brugiroux, who presented his film La Terre n'ext qu'un Seul Pays (The Earth is but One Country). The theme of the Bahá'í booths at all the fairs was the International Year of the Child
. The Bahá'ís in Francavilla al Mare
held their first public proclamation event June which was covered by the local newspaper, Il Messaggero Abruzzo. Scandicci
saw the first Bahá'í marriage ceremony and a large meeting was held in Verona using a room at the local Museum of Natural Sciences. Two of the nine large inscriptions on the remodeled facade of a Catholic church in Forlì
included quotations from The Hidden Words along with Book of Jeremiah, the Talmud, the writings of Confucius, and the words of St. Francis of Assisi. In 1978 the national assembly reported the community had reached 43 assemblies and had sent one pioneer Nigeria, one to Switzerland, two to France. The January 1979 anniversary of the death of the Hand of the Cause of God Dorothy Beecher Baker was commemorated by the Baha'is of Portoferraio, Livorno
and Alessandria for the ceremony at Portoferraio's city Hall. Among the guests were Roberto Bandinelli, a retired Harbor Office employe who was the first to arrive at the scene of the crash in 1954, and Domenico Barbieri, who was mayor of Portoferraio at the time.
A 19-member delegation that represented the Bahá'í International Community
at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
in Strasbourg, France. At the 27th Sitting of the 33rd Ordinary Session the Assembly unanimously adopted Resolution No. 768 calling upon the Iranian authorities "to extend to the Bahá'í community the constitutional guarantees with respect to religious, ethnic and philosophic minorities included in the new Iranian Constitution, " and urging the governments of the member states of the Council of Europe to "utilise every possible opportunity including European Community and United Nations channels, with a view to convincing the Iranian Government of the necessity to respect the law and international conventions to which it is a party." The Baha'i representatives, sent to Strasbourg by 16 National Spiritual Assemblies in Europe to support the work of the Baha'i International Community included Giovanni Fava form Italy. The Italian government's representative referred to UN reports drawn up on the situation then available and also during the debate specifically mentioned the treatment of the Bahá'ís in Iran. A draft of the resolution was adopted on March 11, 1982. See Persecution of Bahá'ís
.
In 1983 the Bahá'í community of Italy had achieved its goal of 50 Spiritual Assemblies with the election of the first Assembly at Caserta in the Campania
Region. At that time the only Regions of Italy
not to have at least one Assembly were Sassari, North Sardinia, and in Campobasso, Molise. In 1985 the Italian Bahá'í community reached 55 assemblies with the first assemblies of Campobasso
and San Pietro
. Forty Bahá'ís from 28 localities joined the Bahá'ís of Perugia to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the formation of the SpiritUal Assembly of Perugia. At the event Dr. Giachery told the story of how, as a young wounded soldier, still ignorant of the Bahá'í Faith, he was in Perugia in 1916. A January 1988 episode of a 45-minute program in an Italian television series on "Men and Prophets" was devoted entirely to the religion with an independent introduction by Prof. Sergio Noia, a lecturer in languages and literature at the Catholic University of Milan describing the independent nature of the faith, explained its clear distinction from Islam, and showed that religious fanaticism has been the cause of the persecution of the religion to the present.
In March 1988 Prof. Alessandro Bausani, member of national institutions of the religion in Italy, academic and writer of numerous books, died. Hand of the Cause Dr. Giachery died while on a trip to American Samoa
. In 1990 the Bahá'ís of Portici
had quickly risen to 105 members and elected their first assembly.
and Palermo. The first local assembly of Palermo was elected in 1958 - and youth members of the community were contributing their own translations of various Bahá'í materials. By March 1961 the Sicilian Bahá'í community had sent eight pioneers to other areas.
In August 1968 the Universal House of Justice called for a conference to be held in Palermo to commemorate from the movement of Bahá'u'lláh from Gallipoli to the Most Great Prison. This event was compared with the migration of Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees to the region of Aleppo, the journey of Moses towards the Promised Land, the flight into Egypt of Mary and Joseph with the infant Jesus, and the Hegira of Muhammad. The setting for the observance was chosen, as the religion's first Oceanic Conference, in light of the anniversary on the sea which bore it, as well as important steps in the progress of the religions of Christianity and Islam as well as the Bahá'í Faith (noting `Abdu'l-Bahá's journeys to the West
across it.) With such themes as a backdrop it was also a purpose of the conference to raise the spirits of Bahá'ís, increase the rate of pioneers traveling to goal areas, and the state of funds. The national assembly of Italy undertook the organizing of the conference by appointing Teresa Taffa, Sohrab Payment, and Maud Bosio as coordinators of the conference. Over 2300 Bahá'ís from around the world arrived from 67 countries and served as a prelude to the visit to the Holy Land on the occasion of the Centenary of Bahá'u'lláh's arrival in 'Akká on August 31, 1868. The main site of the conference was at the Fiera del Mediterraneo. Provisions were available for simultaneous translation of the conference from English to Italian, Spanish, Persian, German and French. Professor Alessandro Bausani, as Chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly of Italy, welcomed everyone to the conference and noted the attendance of ten Hands of the Cause
and all the members of the Continental Board of Counselors
were introduced. Speeches reviewed a range of topics across 3 days - the circumstances of Bahá'u'lláh's trip, the cornerstone of the unity of mankind as a core teaching of the religion, the propagation of The Proclamation of Baha'u'llah as a collection of his works written around this anniversary, reports on the status of some of the communities in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East as well as a summary of the worldwide community, the progress of the then being built Bahá'í House of Worship
in Panama, a history of Akká
and events in Bahá'u'lláh's lifetime. Giornale di Sicilia
, a daily paper of Palermo, ran an article about interviewing Dizzy Gillespie
in Bergamo
noting his religion as Bahá'í in.
A Sinti
gypsy, Vittorio Mayer Custodino, (known as "Spatzo" or "Sparrow") came in contact with the religion while in prison in Sicily. Through him a number of Sicilian Sinti joined the religion by March 1978. In 1989 the first member of the Arbëreshë
, Pietro Pandolfini, from Gela
, joined the religion. In 1990 some sixty youth gathered in Gela for a conference.
Respecting its regional autonomy and the depth of the Bahá'í community in 1995 the Bahá'ís of Sicily elected its own National Assembly. In September 2003 the Bahá'ís of Sicily celebrated the golden jubilee of the arrival of the religion there and which in 2003 had eleven assemblies.
and was appointed by Shoghi Effendi as a Knight of Bahá'u'lláh - Ciocca was an Italian-American and soon married James Holmlund who had also moved to Sardinia from America. In 1966 Livia Pargentino became the first native Sardinian Bahá'í. In August 1968 Ciocca was buried in the cemetery of Cagliari. In 1968 there was a public meeting in Sardinia which was also the subject of the local newspaper article. In November 1975 the local assembly of Cagliari held a booth at a 10 day fair on Sardinia as well as an observation of United Nations Day
. In November 1975 a television talk program called Ore Venti out of Cagliari reviewed the religion. The interviewer opened the program with a reading from Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh
. Alessandro Bausani then spoke of the history of the religion and explained Bahá'í administration
. Another guest, Manuela Fanti, explained how and why she joined the religion. During the 25-minute interview Bausani stressed the universality of the religion by describing his recent trip to Bolivia. By summer 1976 Bahá'ís had been invited to address a number of religious studies classes in Cagliari and Alessandria
, hour long interviews had been granted on two Cagliari radio stations and an assembly was formed in Quartu Sant'Elena
. In 1978 the Bahá'ís of Cagliari and Quartu Sant'Elena pooled resources to support a booth at the Trade Fair in 1978.
(relying mostly on the World Christian Encyclopedia
) estimated some 4,900 Bahá'ís in Italy in 2005. Bahá'í sources claim about 3,000 adherents and are present in over 300 locations across Italy.
Bahá'í Faith
The Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in 19th-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are an estimated five to six million Bahá'ís around the world in more than 200 countries and territories....
in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
dates from 1899 - the earliest known date for Bahá'ís in Italy. Bahá'í sources currently claim about 3,000 adherents in Italy in over 300 locations. The Association of Religion Data Archives
Association of religion data archives
The Association of Religion Data Archives is a free source of online information related to American and international religion. Founded as the American Religion Data Archive in 1997, and online since 1998, the archive was initially targeted at researchers interested in American religion...
(relying mostly on projections from the World Christian Encyclopedia
World Christian Encyclopedia
World Christian Encyclopedia is a reference work published by Oxford University Press, known for providing membership statistics for major and minor world religions in every country of the world, including historical data and projections of future populations.The first edition, by David B. Barrett,...
) estimated some 4,900 Bahá'ís in Italy in 2005.
`Abdu'l-Bahá
`Abdu'l-Bahá
‘Abdu’l-Bahá , born ‘Abbás Effendí, was the eldest son of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith. In 1892, `Abdu'l-Bahá was appointed in his father's will to be his successor and head of the Bahá'í Faith. `Abdu'l-Bahá was born in Tehran to an aristocratic family of the realm...
, head of the religion from 1892 to 1921, wrote two letters to Italian Bahá'ís and mentioned Italy a few times addressing issues of war and peace as well. Though several people joined the religion before World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
by the end there may have been just one Bahá'í in the country. Soon a wave of pioneers
Pioneering (Bahá'í)
A pioneer is a volunteer Bahá'í who leaves his or her home to journey to another place for the purpose of teaching the Bahá'í Faith. The act of so moving is termed pioneering. Bahá'ís refrain from using the term "missionary"...
was coordinated with the first Bahá'ís to arrive were Angeline and Ugo Giachery
Ugo Giachery
Ugo Giachery was a prominent Italian Bahá'í from an aristocratic family from Palermo. At an anniversary of the founding of the spiritual assembly of Perugia Giachery told the story of how, as a young wounded soldier, still ignorant of the Bahá'í Faith, he was in Perugia in 1916...
. By Ridván
Ridván
Riḍván is a twelve-day festival in the Bahá'í Faith, commemorating the commencement of Bahá'u'lláh's prophethood. It begins at sunset on April 20 and continues until sunset, May 2...
1948 the first Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly of Rome was elected. There were six communities across Italy and Switzerland when a regional national assembly was formed in 1953. The Italian Bahá'ís elected their own National Spiritual Assembly in 1962. A survey of the community in 1963 showed 14 assemblies and 18 smaller communities. Major conferences held in Italy include the Palermo Conference of 1968 to commemorate from the movement of Bahá'u'lláh
Bahá'u'lláh
Bahá'u'lláh , born ' , was the founder of the Bahá'í Faith. He claimed to be the prophetic fulfilment of Bábism, a 19th-century outgrowth of Shí‘ism, but in a broader sense claimed to be a messenger from God referring to the fulfilment of the eschatological expectations of Islam, Christianity, and...
, the founder of the religion, from Gallipoli to the prison in Acre and the 2009 regional conference for southern Europe in Padua about the progress of the religion.
Early phase
Just before the founding of modern Italy Bahá'u'lláhBahá'u'lláh
Bahá'u'lláh , born ' , was the founder of the Bahá'í Faith. He claimed to be the prophetic fulfilment of Bábism, a 19th-century outgrowth of Shí‘ism, but in a broader sense claimed to be a messenger from God referring to the fulfilment of the eschatological expectations of Islam, Christianity, and...
addressed a message to Pope Pius IX
Pope Pius IX
Blessed Pope Pius IX , born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, was the longest-reigning elected Pope in the history of the Catholic Church, serving from 16 June 1846 until his death, a period of nearly 32 years. During his pontificate, he convened the First Vatican Council in 1869, which decreed papal...
a few years before the unification of the Kingdom of Italy. It was part of the series entitled Súriy-i-Haykal or Tablet of the Temple which was collected in English as part of the Summons of the Lord of Hosts.
As early as 1899 there were two Bahá'ís in Italy - Edith Burr in Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
and Maria Forni. Burr was an American and a book of her poetry was published. Forni was of Polish extraction, lived in Ticino
Ticino
Canton Ticino or Ticino is the southernmost canton of Switzerland. Named after the Ticino river, it is the only canton in which Italian is the sole official language...
initially where she ran a private school for children with disabilities and presented Bahá'í teachings but soon she moved to Crevenna near Lake Como
Lake Como
Lake Como is a lake of glacial origin in Lombardy, Italy. It has an area of 146 km², making it the third largest lake in Italy, after Lake Garda and Lake Maggiore...
. Both had died by 1930. Burr was the recipient of two letters from `Abdu'l-Bahá. It was in November 1900 that Agnes Alexander learned of the religion while visiting family in Rome. While there she met Charlotte Dixon, an American Bahá'í who was just returning from a Bahá'í pilgrimage
Bahá'í pilgrimage
A Bahá'í pilgrimage currently consists of visiting the holy places in Haifa, Akká, and Bahjí at the Bahá'í World Centre in Northwest Israel. Bahá'ís do not have access to other places designated as sites for pilgrimage....
.
Links with `Abdu'l-Bahá
Juliet ThompsonJuliet Thompson
Juliet Thompson was an American Bahá'í, painter, and disciple of `Abdu'l-Bahá. She is perhaps best remembered for her book The Diary of Juliet Thompson though she also painted a life-sized portrait of `Abdu'l-Bahá.-Early life and education:...
, a prominent early Bahá'í from the United States, went through Italy in 1909 on Bahá'í pilgrimage
Bahá'í pilgrimage
A Bahá'í pilgrimage currently consists of visiting the holy places in Haifa, Akká, and Bahjí at the Bahá'í World Centre in Northwest Israel. Bahá'ís do not have access to other places designated as sites for pilgrimage....
to meet `Abdu'l-Bahá. Another, Horace Holley had set out for Europe in 1909 and met Bertha Herbert during the voyage. Herbert loaned him Myron Phelps' book about `Abdu'l-Bahá and Holley soon joined the religion. Herbert and Holley were married in October 1909 and settled in Italy. They then met `Abdu'l-Baha on both of his trips to Europe, and lived in Italy until 1912, when they moved to Paris. Maria Forni was among those who visited `Abdu'l-Bahá when he arrived in Switzerland in 1911 on his first trip to the West. On his second trip `Abdu'l-Bahá and his retinue boarded the RMS Cedric
RMS Cedric
RMS Cedric was laid down in 1902 at the shipyard of Harland and Wolff, Belfast. RMS Cedric was the second of White Star's series known as the "Big Four", the other three being , and . Celtic was the first ship to exceed Brunel's in overall tonnage, which was quite an accomplishment, considering...
in Alexandria, Egypt bound for Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
where they arrived on March 28, 1912 though they did not disembark for fear of being confused with Turks during the ongoing Italo-Turkish War
Italo-Turkish War
The Italo-Turkish or Turco-Italian War was fought between the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Italy from September 29, 1911 to October 18, 1912.As a result of this conflict, Italy was awarded the Ottoman provinces of Tripolitania, Fezzan, and...
. Several Bahá'ís from America and Britain boarded the ship to travel with them. A youthful Shoghi Effendi
Shoghi Effendi
Shoghí Effendí Rabbání , better known as Shoghi Effendi, was the Guardian and appointed head of the Bahá'í Faith from 1921 until his death in 1957...
had accompanied `Abdu'l-Bahá from Egypt but was refused further passage by reason of a minor illness and was taken ashore, though all were not convinced of the sincerity of the diagnosis and some presumed it was ill will against the voyagers as if they were Turkish. The American Bahá'ís had sent thousands of dollars for the journey, urging `Abdu'l-Bahá to leave the Cedric in Italy and travel to England to sail on the maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic. Instead he returned the money for charity and continued the voyage on the Cedric. Later a survivor met with him asking why he didn't go on the Titanic and he suggested "God inspires man's heart."
Later in April 1912 `Abdu'l-Bahá is recorded addressing that war:
What a great tribulation there is in the countries of Italy and Turkey in these days! The fathers hear of the death of their sons and the sons are distressed on hearing the news of the death of their fathers. What cities are laid to ruin and what rising fortunes are thrown to the winds! The antidote for this great ill is world peace, which is the source of universal tranquillity.
While in the United States `Abdu'l-Bahá had dedicated the site of the North American Bahá'í House of Worship
Bahá'í House of Worship
A Bahá'í House of Worship, sometimes referred to by its Arabic name of Mashriqu'l-Adhkár ,is the designation of a place of worship, or temple, of the Bahá'í Faith...
. By 1915 Italian Bahá'ís were among those contributing to its construction. After his return to Egypt `Abdu'l-Bahá again took up mention of Italy and war. He wrote a series of letters, or tablets, to the followers of the religion in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1916-1917; these letters were compiled together in the book Tablets of the Divine Plan
Tablets of the Divine Plan
The Tablets of the Divine Plan collectively refers to 14 letters written between September 1916 and March 1917 by `Abdu'l-Bahá to Bahá'ís in the United States and Canada. Included in multiple books, the first five tablets were printed in America in Star of the West - Vol. VII, No. 10, September 8,...
. The seventh of the tablets mentioned Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an regions and was written on April 11, 1916, but was delayed in being presented in the United States until 1919—after the end of the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and the Spanish flu
Spanish flu
The 1918 flu pandemic was an influenza pandemic, and the first of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus . It was an unusually severe and deadly pandemic that spread across the world. Historical and epidemiological data are inadequate to identify the geographic origin...
. The seventh tablet was translated and presented on April 4, 1919, and published in Star of the West
Star of the West (Bahá'í magazine)
The Star of the West was a Bahá'í periodical which began publication on March 21, 1910 and ended publication under this title in March of 1935....
magazine on December 12, 1919 and mentioned Italy. He says:
"In brief, this world-consuming war has set such a conflagration to the hearts that no word can describe it. In all the countries of the world the longing for universal peace is taking possession of the consciousness of men. There is not a soul who does not yearn for concord and peace. A most wonderful state of receptivity is being realized.… Therefore, O ye believers of God! Show ye an effort and after this war spread ye the synopsis of the divine teachings in the British Isles, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Portugal, Rumania, Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Greece, Andorra, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, San Marino, Balearic Isles, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Crete, Malta, Iceland, Faroe Islands, Shetland Islands, Hebrides and Orkney Islands."
Developments after World War I
Well known early Japanese Bahá'í Saichiro FujitaSaichiro Fujita
Saichiro Fujita , a native of Yamaguchi Prefecture, was the second Japanese to become a member of the Bahá'í Faith from Japan. He was also distinguished by serving for many years at the Bahá'í World Centre through many of the heads of the religion from the time of `Abdu'l-Bahá, Shoghi Effendi, the...
took a steamer to Italy about 1919-20, where he awaited `Abdu'l-Bahá's wire for him to proceed to Haifa. There was communication noted with Bahá'ís in Italy in 1923. Imogene Hoagg was noted as present in Florence in 1925. Marion Jack sailed for Italy during January, 1926. Anne Lynch fled Russia at the end of the first World War to settle in England and she accepted the Bahá'í Faith immediately upon first hearing of it in Italy in 1926 and then settled in Switzerland. A 1925 list of "leading local Bahá'í Centres" of Europe listed one in Italy. In 1930 a Bahá'í from Baghdad, a Mr. Toeg, was said to have moved to Milan. The first formal vote of international sanctions against aggression, taken in 1936 by the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
, when Fascist Italy
Italian Fascism
Italian Fascism also known as Fascism with a capital "F" refers to the original fascist ideology in Italy. This ideology is associated with the National Fascist Party which under Benito Mussolini ruled the Kingdom of Italy from 1922 until 1943, the Republican Fascist Party which ruled the Italian...
invaded Ethiopia causing the Second Italo-Abyssinian War
Second Italo-Abyssinian War
The Second Italo–Abyssinian War was a colonial war that started in October 1935 and ended in May 1936. The war was fought between the armed forces of the Kingdom of Italy and the armed forces of the Ethiopian Empire...
, was hailed by Shoghi Effendi
Shoghi Effendi
Shoghí Effendí Rabbání , better known as Shoghi Effendi, was the Guardian and appointed head of the Bahá'í Faith from 1921 until his death in 1957...
, head of the religion from 1921 to 1957, as: "an event without parallel in human history". On May 25, 1940 Shoghi Effendi and Rúhíyyih Khanum
Rúhíyyih Khanum
Amatu'l-Bahá Rúhíyyih Khánum , born Mary Sutherland Maxwell was the wife of Shoghi Effendi, the head of the Bahá'í Faith from 1921–1957. She was appointed by him as a Hand of the Cause, and served an important role in the transfer of authority from 1957–1963...
obtained passports for Britain while in Rome - a few days later Italy entered World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Redevelopment after World War II
Geresina Campani of Florence may have been the only Bahá'í to remain alive and active through World War II. Starting in 1946 Shoghi Effendi drew up plans for the American Bahá'í community to send pioneersPioneering (Bahá'í)
A pioneer is a volunteer Bahá'í who leaves his or her home to journey to another place for the purpose of teaching the Bahá'í Faith. The act of so moving is termed pioneering. Bahá'ís refrain from using the term "missionary"...
to Europe; the pioneers setup a European Teaching Committee chaired by Edna True. Possibly the first Bahá'ís after WWII to enter Italy were Angeline and Ugo Giachery
Ugo Giachery
Ugo Giachery was a prominent Italian Bahá'í from an aristocratic family from Palermo. At an anniversary of the founding of the spiritual assembly of Perugia Giachery told the story of how, as a young wounded soldier, still ignorant of the Bahá'í Faith, he was in Perugia in 1916...
. They reached Naples on 20 February 1947 and sent a telegram to Shoghi Effendi from Rome. By the end of March the first Italian convert was enrolled in Genoa. He was Augnsto Salvetti who heard of the religion from a Persian believer while he was a prisoner of war in India and investigated the religion on return to Italy. Brother Rodolfo Salvetti soon followed joining the religion - and pioneers Mr. and Mrs. Phillip Marengella arrived in Italy by mid-1947. There was also one Bahá'í in Milan - perhaps a Turkish refugee. By early 1948 two more Italians had joined the religion - Verena Venturini and Luigi Peveri. By Ridván
Ridván
Riḍván is a twelve-day festival in the Bahá'í Faith, commemorating the commencement of Bahá'u'lláh's prophethood. It begins at sunset on April 20 and continues until sunset, May 2...
1948 the first Local Spiritual Assembly of Rome was elected. In 1948, Marion Little pioneered to Florence from America. Well known Bahá'í Dorothy Beecher Baker who was later named as a Hand of the Cause undertook a trip from 1948 across Europe including visiting Italy. Publications in Italian began with an introductory pamphlet which was sent to prominent citizens and to four hundred public libraries. This was followed by a new edition of John Esslemont
John Esslemont
John Ebenezer Esslemont M.B., Ch.B. , was a prominent British Bahá'í from Scotland. He was the author of the well-known introductory book on the Bahá'í Faith, Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era, which is still in circulation. He was named posthumously by Shoghi Effendi as the first Hand of the Cause he...
's Bahá`u'lláh and the New Era, a special copy of which, bound in tooled green leather, was sent to the archives of the Bahá'í Faith in Palestine. Until 1964 when she returned to America, she served as chairman of the Italian Publishing Committee, a field which gave scope to her artistic and administrative skills. Under her direction and guidance many of the major Writings of the Faith were translated into Italian and published. She died in 1980 and her body buried in Cap d'Ail Cemetery, near Monaco
Monaco
Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the...
. William Sutherland Maxwell
William Sutherland Maxwell
William Sutherland Maxwell was a well-known Canadian architect and a Hand of the Cause in the Bahá'í Faith. He was born in Montreal, Canada to parents Edward John Maxwell and Johan MacBean.-Education:...
came to Italy to begin reviewing materials for the expansion of the Shrine of the Bab
Shrine of the Báb
The Shrine of the Báb is a structure in Haifa, Israel where the remains of the Báb, founder of Bábism and forerunner of Bahá'u'lláh in the Bahá'í Faith, have been laid to rest; it is considered to be the second holiest place on Earth for Bahá'ís, after the Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh in Acre...
in 1948 which continued through 1951 with shipments to Palestine for the project. Architect Andrea Rocca, Professor Emeritus of the Beaux Arts Academy of Carrara, assisted in work with the Shrine as well as the later International Archives building. The first all-Bahá'í Italian family came to be in April 1949 followed by the conversion of 81 year old Giuseppe Berardi by July.
Leading up to the election of the Regional Assembly
The early 1950s was a big period for development of the religion in Italy. The local assemblies of Florence and Naples were elected first in 1951. Orientalist Alessandro Bausani joined the religion before April 1951 - eventually he was Professor Emeritus and Director of the School of Oriental Studies and the Institute of Islamic Studies at the University of Rome "La Sapienza", and he was a member of the "Lincei" National Academy. He helped sustain every institution or committee, national or local, on which he was called to serve. Emily Maude Waterworth Bosio ("Maud Bosio") was 54 years of age when she joined the religion in January 1953. During her fifteen years of service, Bosio was usually a member of the assembly of Florence. And the Bahá'í community in Sicily began in 1953First Italo-Swiss Convention
There were six communities across Italy and Switzerland who elected 19 delegates who gathered for the convention to elect a regional national assembly in the city of FlorenceFlorence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
in the presence of Hand of the Cause Paul E. Haney and Ugo Giachary and Edna True, Chairman of the European Teaching Committee and who represented the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States at the proceedings. The proceedings included announcements of letters of `Abdu'l-Bahá to Italians, noted the attendance of 18 of the 19 delegates, elected the officers of the convention, welcomed guests, discussed the progress of the religion in the region, the role of the Bahá'í institutions, celebrated the Ridván
Ridván
Riḍván is a twelve-day festival in the Bahá'í Faith, commemorating the commencement of Bahá'u'lláh's prophethood. It begins at sunset on April 20 and continues until sunset, May 2...
events, and the actual secret ballot election of the national assembly. Its first members were: Dr. Ugo Giachery, Friedrich Schar, Dr. Alessandro Bausani, Marion Little, Prof. Mario Fiorentini, Anna Kunz, Stella Lanzar, Anne Lynch, and Elsa Steinmetz. Letters from the eleven other national assemblies then in existence were shared and there was an announcement that these assemblies were welcomed to a continental conference in Sweden later in the same year. Workshops at the convention were held on Bahá'í administration
Bahá'í administration
The Bahá'í administration or Bahá'í administrative order refers to the administrative system of the Bahá'í Faith.It is split into two parts, the elected and the appointed...
and tributes paid to various firsts in the community. A public session was then held at which Ugo Giachery spoke on the theme of a universal fermentation giving rise to civilization. Alessandro Bausani was a member of this regional assembly during all the years of its existence.
Leading up to the election of the National Assembly
In October 1953 Marie Ciocca moved to CagliariCagliari
Cagliari is the capital of the island of Sardinia, a region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name Casteddu literally means castle. It has about 156,000 inhabitants, or about 480,000 including the outlying townships : Elmas, Assemini, Capoterra, Selargius, Sestu, Monserrato, Quartucciu, Quartu...
in Sardinia and was appointed by Shoghi Effendi as a Knight of Bahá'u'lláh. In January 1954 it was announced Hand of the Cause Dorothy Beecher Baker had died in a plane crash near the island of Elba en route to Rome from Pakistan
Bahá'í Faith in Pakistan
The Bahá'í Faith in Pakistan begins previous to its independence when it was part of India. The roots of the Bahá'í Faith in the region go back to the first days of the Bábí religion in 1844, with Shaykh Sa'id Hindi who was from Multan...
where she had toured after helping an international conference in India. In February that all the goals assigned to Italy and Switzerland had all been settled by pioneers: Liechtenstein
Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein is a doubly landlocked alpine country in Central Europe, bordered by Switzerland to the west and south and by Austria to the east. Its area is just over , and it has an estimated population of 35,000. Its capital is Vaduz. The biggest town is Schaan...
, Monaco
Monaco
Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the...
, San Marino
San Marino
San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino , is a state situated on the Italian Peninsula on the eastern side of the Apennine Mountains. It is an enclave surrounded by Italy. Its size is just over with an estimated population of over 30,000. Its capital is the City of San Marino...
, and the islands of Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
, Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
and Rhodes
Rhodes
Rhodes is an island in Greece, located in the eastern Aegean Sea. It is the largest of the Dodecanese islands in terms of both land area and population, with a population of 117,007, and also the island group's historical capital. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within...
. In September Italy and Switzerland held its first summer school - 75 Bahá'ís attended the classes held in Bex les Bains. Following the work on the Shrine of the Báb further contracts were signed for materials and work for the International Archives building. The 3rd convention of the election of the Italo-Swiss assembly noted local assemblies had been elected in the goal location of Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo is an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco....
, Monaco. On 9 May 1955, following disruption of the Bahá'í community of Tehran Iran, the Shah's personal physician, Abdol Karim Ayadi, a Bahá'í, was told to leave the country for a while. For this reason he went to Italy for about nine months. Rita van Sombeek had been living in the Netherlands from 1947 but moved to Italy in the early 1950s where she served the interests of the religion. In 1955 the national center building of the Bahá'ís of Italy was dedicated in Rome. After causing Bahá'í divisions
Bahá'í divisions
The Bahá'í Faith has had challenges to leadership, usually, at the death of every head of the religion. The vast majority of Bahá'ís have followed a line of authority from Bahá'u'lláh to `Abdu'l-Bahá to Shoghi Effendi to the Custodians to the Universal House of Justice. Sects diverging from this...
in 1957, Charles Mason Remey, took up residence in Florence where he died in April 1974. The local assembly of Palermo
Palermo
Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...
was first elected in 1958. The first spiritual assemblies of Genova
Génova
Génova may refer to:* Spanish spelling of the city of Genoa, Italy* Génova, Quindío, a municipality in the department of Quindío, Colombia* Génova, Quetzaltenango, a municipality in the department of Quetzaltenango, Guatemala...
and Milano were elected in 1959. By 1959 Italian Julio Savi was an active Bahá'í doing work in Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
. Italian Augusto Robiati also became a Bahá'í in Ethiopia and Savi and Robiati later returned to Italy. In years to come Robiati would win peace and literary prizes. In 1959 Italian materials, after being part of the Shrine of the Báb and the building of the International Archives, began to be incorporated into the Bahá'í House of Worship
Bahá'í House of Worship
A Bahá'í House of Worship, sometimes referred to by its Arabic name of Mashriqu'l-Adhkár ,is the designation of a place of worship, or temple, of the Bahá'í Faith...
in Kampala. The first local assemblies of Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
, Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
, and Perugia
Perugia
Perugia is the capital city of the region of Umbria in central Italy, near the River Tiber, and the capital of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area....
were all elected in 1960 (the first Baha'i arrived in Perugia in 1959.) Bahá'ís with a background or interest in pioneering gathered in Rome in November 1960 and discussed goals remaining in the country in three languages as well as holding classes on the subjects of the Universal House of Justice and "Catholic Psychology and Bahá'í Faith" and other topics. Hand of the Cause Enoch Olinga
Enoch Olinga
Enoch Olinga was born to an Anglican family of the Iteso ethnic group in Uganda. He became a Bahá'í, earned the title Knight of Bahá'u'lláh and was appointed as the youngest Hand of the Cause, the highest appointed position in the religion. He served the interests of the religion widely and...
visited many places including Sicily and mainland Italy in 1960 and again in 1971. Julio Savi was a member of the local assembly of Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
which first formed April 1961 while the first Trieste
Trieste
Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...
, Padua
Padua
Padua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...
, and Bari
Bari
Bari is the capital city of the province of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, in Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy after Naples, and is well known as a port and university city, as well as the city of Saint Nicholas...
assemblies also formed. Hand of the Cause Shu'á'u'lláh 'Alá'i visited the Bahá'ís of Milan in 1961. In early 1962 Hand of the Cause `Alí-Akbar Furútan
`Alí-Akbar Furútan
`Alí-Akbar Furútan was a prominent Iranian Bahá'í educator and author who was given the rank of Hand of the Cause in 1951....
visited Bahá'ís in Florence and Milan. The 1962 edition of the Italian Books and Periodicals, a review of Italian language publications by the government listed Le lezioni di San Giovanni d'Acri which was an independent translation of Some Answered Questions
Some Answered Questions
Some Answered Questions was first published in 1908. It contains questions asked to `Abdu'l-Bahá, son of the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, by Laura Clifford Barney, during several of her visits to Haifa between 1904 and 1906, and `Abdu'l-Bahá's answers to these questions.Prominent among the topics...
.
Public meetings
Through 1961-2 various public meetings began to be held. In February 1961 a joint conference of the Bahá'ís of two cities of Venice and Padua reviewed the progress of the religion there while a public meeting for the Bahá'í Naw-RúzBahá'í Naw-Rúz
Naw-Rúz in the Bahá'í Faith is one of nine holy days for adherents of the Bahá'í Faith worldwide and the first day of the Bahá'í calendar occurring on the vernal equinox, around March 21...
gathered Bahá'ís and guests from Bologna, Florence, Padua, Rimini
Rimini
Rimini is a medium-sized city of 142,579 inhabitants in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, and capital city of the Province of Rimini. It is located on the Adriatic Sea, on the coast between the rivers Marecchia and Ausa...
and San Marino. In October there were three events held to honor the United Nations. The first two were talks by Dr. Alessandro Bausani, member of the Italo-Swiss National Assembly and professor of oriental languages at the Universities of Rome and Naples, on the theme of "United Nations and a United World" in Florence and Bologna. The third event was Auxiliary Board member Mario Piarulli who spoke in Padua about the UN before an international audience. A feature writer of the Socialist newspaper Avanti
Avanti! (Italian newspaper)
Avanti! is an Italian daily newspaper, born as the official voice of the Italian Socialist Party, published since December 25, 1896. It took its name from its German counterpart Vorwärts.-History:...
interviewed Bausani, and then wrote an account, not only of the meeting but also of the religion in general. A public initiative in Turin drew about eighty people from Genoa, Milan and Turin to hear Ugo Giachery speak about his slide-illustrated recent visit to Central America. This was followed by a series of six public meetings to give anyone interested an opportunity to investigate the religion. The average attendance was about seventy. In Bologna a public meeting was held where the audience heard Dr. Giachery on "Bahá'í approaches to modern problems". Another public meeting took place in Padua among youth.
Italian National Assembly and community snapshot
In 1962 the Italian Bahá'í community elected its own National Spiritual Assembly. Its first members were:David Ned Blackmer Hossein Mahboubi, Teresa Taffa, Augusto Robiati, Heshmat Moayyad, Mario Fiorentini, Manutcher Majzub, Hossein Avaregan, and Mario Piarulli. Bausani was a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of Italy for twenty years until 1984. A total of 141 Bahá'ís came to the first Italian summer school, held in September near Rimini. Non-Baha'is also participated in some of the classes. Hand of the Cause Ugo Giachery gave a talk on "The Historical, Religious and Literary Work of Shoghi Effendi."
In 1963 the members of the national assemblies then in existence were the delegates for the first election of the Universal House of Justice
Universal House of Justice
The Universal House of Justice is the supreme governing institution of the Bahá'í Faith. It is a legislative institution with the authority to supplement and apply the laws of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, and exercises a judicial function as the highest appellate institution in the...
. The members of the Italian assembly were Professor Hossein Avaregan, Alessandro Bausani, David Ned Blackmer, Professor Mario Fiorentini, Manoutchehr Madjzoub, Hossein Mahboubi, Mario Piarulli, Augusto Robiati, and Teresa Taffa; six of whom were able to attend the convention itself.
The Bahá'í communities of Italy in 1963 were:
| Assemblies | ||||||||||||
| Bari Bari Bari is the capital city of the province of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, in Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy after Naples, and is well known as a port and university city, as well as the city of Saint Nicholas... |
Bologna Bologna Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,... |
Genova Génova Génova may refer to:* Spanish spelling of the city of Genoa, Italy* Génova, Quindío, a municipality in the department of Quindío, Colombia* Génova, Quetzaltenango, a municipality in the department of Quetzaltenango, Guatemala... |
Firenze Firenze Firenze is the Italian name for the city of Florence.Firenze may also refer to:* Andrea da Firenze, an Italian composer* Lorenzo da Firenze, an Italian composer and music teacher of the trecento... |
Milano | Napoli | Padova | Palermo Palermo Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old... |
Perugia Perugia Perugia is the capital city of the region of Umbria in central Italy, near the River Tiber, and the capital of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area.... |
Rome Rome Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half... |
Torino | Trieste Trieste Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city... |
Venice Venice Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region... |
| Groups | ||||||||||||
| Cagliari Cagliari Cagliari is the capital of the island of Sardinia, a region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name Casteddu literally means castle. It has about 156,000 inhabitants, or about 480,000 including the outlying townships : Elmas, Assemini, Capoterra, Selargius, Sestu, Monserrato, Quartucciu, Quartu... |
Como Como Como is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy.It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como.... |
Laterina Laterina Laterina is a comune in the Province of Arezzo in the Italian region Tuscany, located about 50 km southeast of Florence and about 14 km northwest of Arezzo... |
Mantova | Parma Parma Parma is a city in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna famous for its ham, its cheese, its architecture and the fine countryside around it. This is the home of the University of Parma, one of the oldest universities in the world.... |
Pisogne Pisogne Pisogne is a comune of 8046 inhabitants in Val Camonica, province of Brescia, in Lombardy.-Geography:Pisogne is situated at the northern-east tip of Lake Iseo.... |
Rimini Rimini Rimini is a medium-sized city of 142,579 inhabitants in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, and capital city of the Province of Rimini. It is located on the Adriatic Sea, on the coast between the rivers Marecchia and Ausa... |
Siena Siena Siena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.The historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site. It is one of the nation's most visited tourist attractions, with over 163,000 international arrivals in 2008... |
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| Isolated Bahá'ís | ||||||||||||
| Ghiffa Ghiffa Ghiffa is a comune in the Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 120 km northeast of Turin and about 7 km northeast of Verbania on the western shore of the Lake Maggiore.... |
Lecce Lecce Lecce is a historic city of 95,200 inhabitants in southern Italy, the capital of the province of Lecce, the second province in the region by population, as well as one of the most important cities of Puglia... |
Mercatello sul Metauro Mercatello sul Metauro Mercatello sul Metauro is a comune in the Province of Pesaro e Urbino in the Italian region Marche, located about 100 km west of Ancona and about 50 km southwest of Pesaro.... |
Meta | Messina | Pioltello Pioltello Pioltello is a comune in the Province of Milan in the Italian region Lombardy, located about 14 km northeast of Milan. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 32,337 and an area of 13.1 km².... |
Pisa Pisa Pisa is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the River Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa... |
Poggibonsi Poggibonsi Poggibonsi is a town in the province of Siena, Tuscany, Italy. It is the main centre of the Valdelsa Valley.-History:The area around Poggibonsi was already settled in the Neolithic age, although the first traces of civilisation dates from Etruscan-Roman age, attested by a series of necropolises and... |
Roncade Roncade Roncade is a comune in the Province of Treviso in the Italian region Veneto, located about 25 km north of Venice and about 10 km southeast of Treviso... |
Sassari Sassari Sassari is an Italian city. It is the second-largest city of Sardinia in terms of population with about 130,000 inhabitants, or about 300,000 including the greater metropolitan area... |
Public meetings
In 1963 Bahá'í Mrs. Meherangiz Munsiff of England, formerly of India, toured six cities with Indian art and slides of temples and holy places. In 1965 the International Club of the University of Padua invited the Bahá'ís to give a talk on the religion. Human Rights Day observances with Bahá'ís were also scheduled in many Italian cities - Bologna, Mantua, Padua, Milan, Genova, Turin and Florence. In December 1966 the Bahá'ís of Milan held two public conferences with members of various cultural clubs, the Press Club and others. Professor Bausani gave a presentation at the Cultural and Artistic Club of the University of PaduaUniversity of Padua
The University of Padua is a premier Italian university located in the city of Padua, Italy. The University of Padua was founded in 1222 as a school of law and was one of the most prominent universities in early modern Europe. It is among the earliest universities of the world and the second...
on religions that originated in Persia - the Bahá'í Faith in particular. In 1968 public meetings were held in Perugia
Perugia
Perugia is the capital city of the region of Umbria in central Italy, near the River Tiber, and the capital of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area....
, Milan, Anacapri
Anacapri
Anacapri is a comune on the island of Capri, in the province of Naples, Italy. The Ancient Greek prefix ana means "up" or "above", signifying that Anacapri is located at a higher elevation on the island than Capri . Administratively, it has a separate status from the city of Capri...
, and in Palermo at Fiera del Mediterraneo. A public meeting for about 250 people was held at the town theater in Rimini in November 1968 with a piano recital and talk by Prof. Bausani. In May 1969 Prof. Bausani gave a talk at a public meeting in Lipari
Lipari
Lipari is the largest of the Aeolian Islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the north coast of Sicily, and the name of the island's main town. It has a permanent population of 11,231; during the May–September tourist season, its population may reach up to 20,000....
at which some 60 people attended - the subject was on "the atomic age and the crisis in today's society" and mentioned the religion. The series of events drew a week of attention in Mantova in November 1969. The aim was to reach the greater part of the population of the city and have the Faith known, at least in name. Copies of The Proclamation of Bahá'u'lláh were presented to leading local dignitaries and a number of events were held: public conferences, round-table discussions, a concert, and slide shows. World Religion Day was observed by the Bahá'ís in Rome with an interfaith public round table discussion at the Accademia Tiberina on the theme of "Religion as an instrument of peace and unity". In May 1971 a public event was held on Ischia
Ischia
Ischia is a volcanic island in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It lies at the northern end of the Gulf of Naples, about 30 km from the city of Naples. It is the largest of the Phlegrean Islands. Roughly trapezoidal in shape, it measures around 10 km east to west and 7 km north to south and has...
island with youth performers. The Bahá'ís of Rimini held a conference in October 1975 in observance of International Women's Year
International Women's Year
International Women's Year was the name given to 1975 by the United Nations. Since that year March 8 has been celebrated as International Women's Day, and the United Nations Decade for Women, from 1976–1985, was also established.-International:...
. The city of Milan invited the Bahá'ís for a public presentation so the Bahá'ís organized a series of six lectures on various Bahá'í teachings
Bahá'í teachings
The Bahá'í teachings represent a considerable number of theological, social, and spiritual ideas that were established in the Bahá'í Faith by Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the religion, and clarified by successive leaders including `Abdu'l-Bahá, Bahá'u'lláh's son, and Shoghi Effendi, `Abdu'l-Bahá's...
.
Youth opportunities
The 1964 summer school was held in Bellaria, Guy MurchieGuy Murchie
Guy Murchie , the son of Ethel A. and Guy Murchie Sr., was a Chicago Tribune photographer, staff artist and reporter, who had served as a war correspondent in England and Iceland from 1940 to 1942. He was briefly married to Barbara Cooney , with whom he shared two children...
was among the teachers of that year. The 1965 Italian summer school was held again in Bellaria near Rimini. This year the committee doubled reserved rooms and did so for two weeks instead of one. Happily 284 Bahá'ís attended from sixteen countries and more than twenty non-Baha'is attended. Two Hands of the Cause were present to teach classes - John Ferraby
John Ferraby
John Ferraby was a British Bahá'í born in Southsea, England into a liberal Jewish family. He was educated at Malvern and at King's College, Cambridge, to which he won a major scholarship....
("The Charters of the Cause of God,") and Abu'l-Qásim Faizi
Abu'l-Qasim Faizi
Abu'l-Qásim Faizi or Fayḍí was a Persian Bahá'í. He studied at the American University of Beirut.He married Gloria `Alá'í in 1939. Together they pioneered to Iraq and Bahrain...
("The Meaning of History from the Bahá'í Point of View"). The following year among the presentators for the 287 students was Dr. Firuz Kazemzadeh
Firuz Kazemzadeh
Firuz Kazemzadeh is a professor emeritus of history at Yale University.Firuz Kazemzadeh was born in Moscow, where his father served in the embassy of Iran...
, former chairman of the National Assembly of the United States, and Prof. Alessandro Bausani, who, in addition to giving two courses, translated for the English, Persian and French speaking teachers. In 1965 the youth of Milan began holding weekend classes and a national youth committee was operating.
A Youth Symposium was held at Rimini in March 1967 with over 120 attending; a graduate of the first training institute gave the public talk. The sixth Italian summer school took place at Contursi, near Naples, in September, 1967, with 169 participants from thirteen countries. Speakers and teachers of classes included Prof. Bausani and Dr. Giachery, Mr. Rosapepe, the attorney who obtained the recognition of the Faith in Italy and owner of the hotel where the school was held, Philip Hainsworth, member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the British Isles, Auxiliary Board member Dr. Eric Blumenthal, Augusto Robiati, Auxiliary Board member James Holmlund. The youth organized round-table discussions and afterwards a public conference was organized at the University Club. In the spring of 1968 the National Youth Committee of Italy organized a school at Passignano on the shores of Lake Trasimeno
Lake Trasimeno
Lake Trasimeno , also referred to as Trasimene or Thrasimene in English, is the largest lake on the Italian peninsula south of the Po River with a surface area of 128 km2, slightly less than Lake Como...
with 110 attendees. In September 1969 the seventh Italian Summer School took place at Igea Marina. Two Hands of the Cause of God, Dr. Adelbert Mlihlschlegel and Jalal Khazeh, three members of the Continental Board of Counsellors, Mrs. D. Ferraby, Mr. L. Henuzet, Dr. E. Blumenthal, as well as a professor of the University of Milan and a young assistant professor from the University of Florence. The 1971 National Baha'i Youth School was held in Pisa
Pisa
Pisa is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the River Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa...
in April and was followed by a public conference and in June a Youth Symposium in San Marino was used to plan participation in a continental conference as well as a public meeting. In 1975 group of about 170 attended the National Youth Symposium at Florence. An additional school was held in Vieste as well. The September 1977 Bahá'í summer school was held in Giulianova
Giulianova
Giulianova is a coastal town and comune in the province of Teramo of central Italy.-Geography:The town lies in the north of the Abruzzo region, between the Salinello and the Tordino rivers. Giulianova is split between the Paese, the historic town up in the hills, and the lido, the more recent...
- one of the speakers was Adib Taherzadeh
Adib Taherzadeh
Adib Taherzadeh served as a member of the Universal House of Justice, the supreme governing body of the Bahá'í Faith, between 1988 and 2000.-Biography:...
. He was a speaker at the 1978 school along with others and a special guest Dr. Pagnanelli, director of the information center of the United Nations Organization in Rome, gave a public talk on "The First 30 Years of the United Nations Organization." Eight hundred-fifty people from 19 countries attended the 1983 Italian Bahá'í summer school in the southern city of Cosenza
Cosenza
Cosenza is a city in southern Italy, located at the confluence of two historic rivers: the Busento and the Crathis. The municipal population is of around 70,000; the urban area, however, counts over 260,000 inhabitants...
. Special guests at the school were the Hand of the Cause Rúhíyyih Khanum
Rúhíyyih Khanum
Amatu'l-Bahá Rúhíyyih Khánum , born Mary Sutherland Maxwell was the wife of Shoghi Effendi, the head of the Bahá'í Faith from 1921–1957. She was appointed by him as a Hand of the Cause, and served an important role in the transfer of authority from 1957–1963...
, who was making her first visit to the Italian Bahá'í community. About 120 children attended special classes arranged for them by the Italian National Children's Committee. The Austrian Dawnbreakers toured seven cities in Italy, presenting five concerts, taping two television shows, and appearing at former member of the ensemble, in three schools. Students in a Bahá'í children's class in 1988 in Milan raised money to sponsor a child in Haiti by paying his tuition for a year at the Anís Zunúzí Bahá'í School
Anís Zunúzí Bahá'í School
The Anís Zunúzí Bahá'í School is a Bahá'í School near Port-au-Prince, Haiti, which first began to hold classes in 1980. It reached the point of offering classes K through 10th grade...
. About 600 youth from 20 countries gathered for the European Bahá'í Youth Conference in San Marino including some 40 youth Bahá'ís from Turkey. Guest speakers included various ministers of government of San Marino and as covered on state television and six newspapers.
Flood relief
In response to the 1966 Flood of the River Arno in Florence1966 Flood of the River Arno in Florence
The 1966 Flood of the Arno River in Florence killed many people and damaged or destroyed millions of masterpieces of art and rare books in Florence. It is considered the worst flood in the city's history since 1557. With the combined effort of Italian citizens and foreign donors and committees, or...
the National Spiritual Assembly of Italy appointed an Aid to Flood Victims Committee during the 1966 national conference on the progress of the religion in November. The members were: Houshyar Achraf, Mohammad Ravanbakhs, Col. Giulio Jacoviello , Sohrab Payment, and Maud Bosio. The first check received for the fund was from the Universal House of Justice
Universal House of Justice
The Universal House of Justice is the supreme governing institution of the Bahá'í Faith. It is a legislative institution with the authority to supplement and apply the laws of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, and exercises a judicial function as the highest appellate institution in the...
. City Hall furnished Letters of introduction to the Aid Centers of the most damaged districts in Florence and Brozzi. Before October 1967 a variety of assistance was provided: seventy-five families visited; fifty-nine families assisted with more than 1,600 garments; forty-eight families given bed linen, towels, etc.; twenty-seven woolen blankets furnished; beds, mattresses, pillows, electric stoves and furniture distributed. The sum of $735 (1967 dollars) was given as emergency help to twenty families.
Publications
In 1954 a translation of John Esslemont's Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era was published. In 1956 a compilation of Bahá'u'lláh's writings was published as Spigolature dagli scritti. On October 21, 1966, a review of the pamphlet, One God, One Truth, One People, by Dr. Ugo Giachery, appeared in the Italian newspaper Il Secolo in Genoa Italy. It was positively reviewed by critic Nicola Ghiglione. Relazioni Religiose, a press information agency dealing exclusively with religious affairs and world wide theological developments, announced in its bulletin of February 9, 1967 the legal recognition of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Italy in an article reviewing the religion entitled "The Religious Baha'i Community of Italy Obtains Juridical Recognition". Augusto Robiati published a number of small books and articles in Italian including an introduction to the religion and about the role of assemblies and other works. Two books in particular were Robiati's award winning Uomo Svegliati (1973) and Gli Otto Veli(1981). The first Italian edition in 1978 of The Dawn-Breakers was made available by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Italy. Julio Savi began to publish a number of books:Bahíyyih Khánum Ancella di Bahá (1983), and The Eternal Quest for God which was published in 1988 among them. Bausani's essays and articles were gathered together and published in one volume in 1991 by Casa Editrice Bahá'í (Roma) under the title: Saggi sulla Fede Bahá'í(Essays on the Bahá'í Faith). In 1991 a collection of essay's about the Bahá'í Faith by Bausani was published. Others of his texts are used in academic religious classes in 2010. A 2001 book I Baha'i profiling the religion has been translated into Italian published through CESNURCESNUR
CESNUR , is an organization based in Turin, Italy. It was established in 1988 by a group of religious scholars from universities in Europe and the Americas, working in the field of new religious movements. Its director is the Italian sociologist and attorney Massimo Introvigne...
(Centro Studi sulle Nuove Religion). Bausani was director of the Italian quarterly magazine Opinioni Bahá'í from its foundation which was published under authority of the national assembly starting in 1977. The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Italy initiated the publication of a special booklet for International Year of the Child
International Year of the Child
* Maureen Millicent Bomford founded International Year of The Child and it was endorsed by the United Nations. Maureen was born in Canterbury Punchbowl in 1930 and had four brothers. Her father was a Mayor and she always learned to appreciate the value of leadership. As the wife of a prominent...
containing quotations from the Bahá'í scriptures on the education of children.
Socio-economic development projects
Since its inception the religion has had involvement in socio-economic development beginning by giving greater freedom to women, promulgating the promotion of female education as a priority concern, and that involvement was given practical expression by creating schools, agricultural coops, and clinics.The religion entered a new phase of activity when a message of the Universal House of Justice
Universal House of Justice
The Universal House of Justice is the supreme governing institution of the Bahá'í Faith. It is a legislative institution with the authority to supplement and apply the laws of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, and exercises a judicial function as the highest appellate institution in the...
dated 20 October 1983 was released. Bahá'ís were urged to seek out ways, compatible with the Bahá'í teachings
Bahá'í teachings
The Bahá'í teachings represent a considerable number of theological, social, and spiritual ideas that were established in the Bahá'í Faith by Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the religion, and clarified by successive leaders including `Abdu'l-Bahá, Bahá'u'lláh's son, and Shoghi Effendi, `Abdu'l-Bahá's...
, in which they could become involved in the social and economic development of the communities in which they lived. Worldwide in 1979 there were 129 officially recognized Bahá'í socio-economic development projects. By 1987, the number of officially recognized development projects had increased to 1482.
Italian Association of Baha'i Studies in 1990. Baha'i Association of Socio-Economic Development named after Gianni Ballerio was established in 2003 and operates over forty projects across Regions of Italy
Regions of Italy
The regions of Italy are the first-level administrative divisions of the state, constituting its first NUTS administrative level. There are twenty regions, of which five are constitutionally given a broader amount of autonomy granted by special statutes....
.
Institutional and community development
More than forty youth attended the three day conference in Florence that centered its discussion around specific challenges in Italy to the progress of the religion. Ugo Giachery met with youth and adult Bahá'ís in October and November. The first Italian Bahá'í of Mantua was Aida Neva.In 1966 there were a number of developments. The Italian National Spiritual Assembly was able to register as an incorporated foundation under Italian law. The same year a gathering of Bahá'ís on Sardinia was coordinated and a talk given by Livia Pargentino, the first declared Sardinian Bahá'í. In 1966 two islands had their first pioneers- on the island of Capri
Capri
Capri is an Italian island in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrentine Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples, in the Campania region of Southern Italy...
it was Rouhaughy Fahteazam , and on the island of Lipari
Lipari
Lipari is the largest of the Aeolian Islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the north coast of Sicily, and the name of the island's main town. It has a permanent population of 11,231; during the May–September tourist season, its population may reach up to 20,000....
it was Teresa Taffa while in Sardinia there was the first Sardinian conversion occurred when Livia Pargentino joined the religion.
The first training institute for promulgating the religion in Italy was conducted by Mildred Mottahehdeh in February 1967. In 1968 a Catholic monk, Padre Marian, mentioned the religion on his television program and read the prayer by 'Abdu'l-Bahá. Also Maud Basio who aside from all her services (see below) was also mother of Mrs. Firuz Kazemzadeh
Firuz Kazemzadeh
Firuz Kazemzadeh is a professor emeritus of history at Yale University.Firuz Kazemzadeh was born in Moscow, where his father served in the embassy of Iran...
, died. In 1969 the Italian Bahá'í Publishing Trust was established and the national assembly established cooperative relations with the Italian Esperanto Federation. By September 1970 Alfredo Speranza, a noted pianist who moved to Italy, joined the religion as well as the first citizen of San Marino. In May 1976 a 1,000-word article reviewing the religion was printed in La Stampa
La Stampa
La Stampa is one of the best-known, most influential and most widely sold Italian daily newspapers. Published in Turin, it is distributed in Italy and other European nations. The current owner is the Fiat Group.-History:...
in Turin after interviewing the secretary of the national assembly A. Parsa, a member of the national assembly, was invited to start a weekly one-hour broadcast called "Programme Baha'i" on a station in Pisa. Other regular radio broadcasts began inBologna, Bolzano and Trofarello. Along with informational talks from Bahá'í teachings music was interspersed from various Baha'i musicians like Seals and Crofts
Seals and Crofts
Seals and Crofts is a band made up of Jim Seals and Dash Crofts . The soft rock duo was one of the most successful musical acts of the 1970s. They are best known for their hits "Summer Breeze" and "Diamond Girl"...
, Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...
, England Dan and John Ford Coley as well as Italian artists. In February 1977 coordinated efforts focused the national community on Brescia, Cosenza and Salerno for one week and in Lipari, Messina and Trofarello the second week. At the end of the effort Salerno
Salerno
Salerno is a city and comune in Campania and is the capital of the province of the same name. It is located on the Gulf of Salerno on the Tyrrhenian Sea....
elected an assembly. The assembly of Trieste rented display case for Bahá'í literature
Bahá'í literature
Bahá'í literature, like much religious text, covers a variety of topics and forms, including scripture and inspiration, interpretation, history and biography, introduction and study materials, and apologia...
at a bus terminal in Muggia
Muggia
Muggia is a small Italian comune in the extreme south-east of Trieste lying on the border with Slovenia.Muggia is the last and only flap of Istria still in Italian territory, after the dissolution of the Free Territory of Trieste in 1954....
and also awarded trophies for service to humanity. Cosenza was the focus of some effort in August 1977 when traveling teachers visiting the pioneer there. It was decided to show some filmstrips but the living room would not hold the more than 12 people who attended they set up to show the film outside, against the wall of the house. The neighbors were glad to cooperate. The woman downstairs handed chairs from her apartment out the window. Filmstrips like The Bahá'ís and the Holy Land and part of the Green Light Expedition about Rúhíyyih Khanum
Rúhíyyih Khanum
Amatu'l-Bahá Rúhíyyih Khánum , born Mary Sutherland Maxwell was the wife of Shoghi Effendi, the head of the Bahá'í Faith from 1921–1957. She was appointed by him as a Hand of the Cause, and served an important role in the transfer of authority from 1957–1963...
's travels in Bolivia and Peru. A month later the first assembly of Cosenza was elected.
In 1978 a diverse set of events took place in regards to the Bahá'í Faith in Italy. Some one hundred Bahá'ís met for a conference on the progress of the religion across Italy Florence in March 1978. All of the national assembly members were able to attend the April 1978 international convention to elect the Universal House of Justice which also served as an opportunity for the dedication of the Seat of the Universal House. The Italian firm Industria dei Marmi Vicentini, one of the largest of Italy at least since the 1990s, produced a brochure covering the dedication and building to acquaint potential customers with the quality of its work in architectural marble. The brochure tells of the history of the religion, the role of the Universal House of Justice, and gives some details of the design of the building itself. The firm points out that its quarries would provide 85000 cubic feet (2,406.9 m³) of "Caesar's White" marble similar to that from Penteliko Mountain that was used in The Parthenon which had 46 columns each 31.5 feet (9.6 m) high while the Seat of the Universal House of Justice has 58 columns each 33 feet (10.1 m) high. The workers were from Chiampo
Chiampo
Chiampo is a town and comune in the province of Vicenza, Veneto, Italy. It is on SP43.-Sources:*...
. The Bahá'í Publishing Trust of Italy and the Local Spiritual Assembly of Milan pooled resources to hold a booth at the 56th annual Milan Trade Fair in April. Other booths in Fairs were held in Cagliari and for the first time in Bari. The displays included Bahá'í literature
Bahá'í literature
Bahá'í literature, like much religious text, covers a variety of topics and forms, including scripture and inspiration, interpretation, history and biography, introduction and study materials, and apologia...
- Milan's had materials in Arabic, English, Esperanto, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, as well as two books in Braille. A special guest at the Milan booth was the French Bahá'í author, Andre Brugiroux, who presented his film La Terre n'ext qu'un Seul Pays (The Earth is but One Country). The theme of the Bahá'í booths at all the fairs was the International Year of the Child
International Year of the Child
* Maureen Millicent Bomford founded International Year of The Child and it was endorsed by the United Nations. Maureen was born in Canterbury Punchbowl in 1930 and had four brothers. Her father was a Mayor and she always learned to appreciate the value of leadership. As the wife of a prominent...
. The Bahá'ís in Francavilla al Mare
Francavilla al Mare
Francavilla al Mare is a comune and town in the Province of Chieti in the Abruzzo region of ItalyThe area was inhabited since prehistory, and early remains have been found at St. Cecilia. In 1162 the village was granted immunity from all taxations for 12 years, and this episode also gave origin to...
held their first public proclamation event June which was covered by the local newspaper, Il Messaggero Abruzzo. Scandicci
Scandicci
thumb|250px|Pieve of Sant'Alessandro a Giogoli.Scandicci is a comune of c. 50,000 inhabitants in the Province of Florence in the Italian region Tuscany, located about 6 km southwest of Florence....
saw the first Bahá'í marriage ceremony and a large meeting was held in Verona using a room at the local Museum of Natural Sciences. Two of the nine large inscriptions on the remodeled facade of a Catholic church in Forlì
Forlì
Forlì is a comune and city in Emilia-Romagna, Italy, and is the capital of the province of Forlì-Cesena. The city is situated along the Via Emilia, to the right of the Montone river, and is an important agricultural centre...
included quotations from The Hidden Words along with Book of Jeremiah, the Talmud, the writings of Confucius, and the words of St. Francis of Assisi. In 1978 the national assembly reported the community had reached 43 assemblies and had sent one pioneer Nigeria, one to Switzerland, two to France. The January 1979 anniversary of the death of the Hand of the Cause of God Dorothy Beecher Baker was commemorated by the Baha'is of Portoferraio, Livorno
Livorno
Livorno , traditionally Leghorn , is a port city on the Tyrrhenian Sea on the western edge of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of approximately 160,000 residents in 2009.- History :...
and Alessandria for the ceremony at Portoferraio's city Hall. Among the guests were Roberto Bandinelli, a retired Harbor Office employe who was the first to arrive at the scene of the crash in 1954, and Domenico Barbieri, who was mayor of Portoferraio at the time.
A 19-member delegation that represented the Bahá'í International Community
Bahá'í International Community
The Bahá'í International Community, or the BIC, is an international non-governmental organization representing the members of the Bahá'í Faith; it was first chartered in March 1948 with the United Nations, and currently has affiliates in over 180 countries and territories.The BIC seeks to "promote...
at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
Council of Europe
The Council of Europe is an international organisation promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...
in Strasbourg, France. At the 27th Sitting of the 33rd Ordinary Session the Assembly unanimously adopted Resolution No. 768 calling upon the Iranian authorities "to extend to the Bahá'í community the constitutional guarantees with respect to religious, ethnic and philosophic minorities included in the new Iranian Constitution, " and urging the governments of the member states of the Council of Europe to "utilise every possible opportunity including European Community and United Nations channels, with a view to convincing the Iranian Government of the necessity to respect the law and international conventions to which it is a party." The Baha'i representatives, sent to Strasbourg by 16 National Spiritual Assemblies in Europe to support the work of the Baha'i International Community included Giovanni Fava form Italy. The Italian government's representative referred to UN reports drawn up on the situation then available and also during the debate specifically mentioned the treatment of the Bahá'ís in Iran. A draft of the resolution was adopted on March 11, 1982. See Persecution of Bahá'ís
Persecution of Bahá'ís
The persecution of Bahá'ís is the religious persecution of Bahá'ís in various countries, especially in Iran, where the Bahá'í Faith originated and the location of one of the largest Bahá'í populations in the world...
.
In 1983 the Bahá'í community of Italy had achieved its goal of 50 Spiritual Assemblies with the election of the first Assembly at Caserta in the Campania
Campania
Campania is a region in southern Italy. The region has a population of around 5.8 million people, making it the second-most-populous region of Italy; its total area of 13,590 km² makes it the most densely populated region in the country...
Region. At that time the only Regions of Italy
Regions of Italy
The regions of Italy are the first-level administrative divisions of the state, constituting its first NUTS administrative level. There are twenty regions, of which five are constitutionally given a broader amount of autonomy granted by special statutes....
not to have at least one Assembly were Sassari, North Sardinia, and in Campobasso, Molise. In 1985 the Italian Bahá'í community reached 55 assemblies with the first assemblies of Campobasso
Campobasso
-Main sights:The main attraction of Campobasso is the Castello Monforte, built in 1450 by the local ruler Nicola II Monforte, over Lombard or Norman ruins. The castle has Guelph merlons and stands on a commanding point, where traces of ancient settlements have been found...
and San Pietro
San Pietro in Cariano
San Pietro in Cariano is a comune in the Province of Verona in the Italian region Veneto, located about 110 km west of Venice and about 12 km northwest of Verona....
. Forty Bahá'ís from 28 localities joined the Bahá'ís of Perugia to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the formation of the SpiritUal Assembly of Perugia. At the event Dr. Giachery told the story of how, as a young wounded soldier, still ignorant of the Bahá'í Faith, he was in Perugia in 1916. A January 1988 episode of a 45-minute program in an Italian television series on "Men and Prophets" was devoted entirely to the religion with an independent introduction by Prof. Sergio Noia, a lecturer in languages and literature at the Catholic University of Milan describing the independent nature of the faith, explained its clear distinction from Islam, and showed that religious fanaticism has been the cause of the persecution of the religion to the present.
In March 1988 Prof. Alessandro Bausani, member of national institutions of the religion in Italy, academic and writer of numerous books, died. Hand of the Cause Dr. Giachery died while on a trip to American Samoa
Bahá'í Faith in American Samoa and Samoa
The Bahá'í Faith in Samoa and American Samoa begins with the then head of the religion, `Abdu'l-Bahá, mentioning the islands in 1916. This inspired Bahá'ís on their way to Australia in 1920 to stop in Samoa. Thirty four years later another Bahá'í from Australia pioneered to Samoa in 1954...
. In 1990 the Bahá'ís of Portici
Portici
Portici is a town and comune of the Province of Naples in the Campania region of southern Italy. It is the site of the Portici Royal Palace.-Geography:...
had quickly risen to 105 members and elected their first assembly.
Sicily
Sicily had its first Bahá'í pioneers in 1953 with the arrivals of Emma Rice, and Stanley and Florence Bagley moving to TaorminaTaormina
Taormina is a comune and small town on the east coast of the island of Sicily, Italy, in the Province of Messina, about midway between Messina and Catania. Taormina has been a very popular tourist destination since the 19th century...
and Palermo. The first local assembly of Palermo was elected in 1958 - and youth members of the community were contributing their own translations of various Bahá'í materials. By March 1961 the Sicilian Bahá'í community had sent eight pioneers to other areas.
In August 1968 the Universal House of Justice called for a conference to be held in Palermo to commemorate from the movement of Bahá'u'lláh from Gallipoli to the Most Great Prison. This event was compared with the migration of Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees to the region of Aleppo, the journey of Moses towards the Promised Land, the flight into Egypt of Mary and Joseph with the infant Jesus, and the Hegira of Muhammad. The setting for the observance was chosen, as the religion's first Oceanic Conference, in light of the anniversary on the sea which bore it, as well as important steps in the progress of the religions of Christianity and Islam as well as the Bahá'í Faith (noting `Abdu'l-Bahá's journeys to the West
`Abdu'l-Bahá's journeys to the West
`Abdu'l-Bahá's journeys to the West were a series of trips `Abdu'l-Bahá undertook starting at the age of 67 from Palestine to the West from 1910 to 1913. `Abdu'l-Bahá was imprisoned at the age of 8 and suffered various degrees of privation most of his life...
across it.) With such themes as a backdrop it was also a purpose of the conference to raise the spirits of Bahá'ís, increase the rate of pioneers traveling to goal areas, and the state of funds. The national assembly of Italy undertook the organizing of the conference by appointing Teresa Taffa, Sohrab Payment, and Maud Bosio as coordinators of the conference. Over 2300 Bahá'ís from around the world arrived from 67 countries and served as a prelude to the visit to the Holy Land on the occasion of the Centenary of Bahá'u'lláh's arrival in 'Akká on August 31, 1868. The main site of the conference was at the Fiera del Mediterraneo. Provisions were available for simultaneous translation of the conference from English to Italian, Spanish, Persian, German and French. Professor Alessandro Bausani, as Chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly of Italy, welcomed everyone to the conference and noted the attendance of ten Hands of the Cause
Hands of the Cause
The Hands of the Cause of God, Hands of the Cause, or Hands were a select group of Bahá'ís, appointed for life, whose main function was to propagate and protect the Bahá'í Faith...
and all the members of the Continental Board of Counselors
Institution of the Counsellors
The Counsellors are part of the administrative order of the Bahá'í Faith, and are part of a greater administrative branch called the Institution of the Counsellors, established by the Universal House of Justice in 1968....
were introduced. Speeches reviewed a range of topics across 3 days - the circumstances of Bahá'u'lláh's trip, the cornerstone of the unity of mankind as a core teaching of the religion, the propagation of The Proclamation of Baha'u'llah as a collection of his works written around this anniversary, reports on the status of some of the communities in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East as well as a summary of the worldwide community, the progress of the then being built Bahá'í House of Worship
Bahá'í House of Worship
A Bahá'í House of Worship, sometimes referred to by its Arabic name of Mashriqu'l-Adhkár ,is the designation of a place of worship, or temple, of the Bahá'í Faith...
in Panama, a history of Akká
Akka
Akka is traditionally a female spirit in Sámi and Finnish mythology.In Sámi mythology, the first akka was Maderakka and her daughters were Sarakka, Uksakka and Juksakka. Some Sámi thought they lived under their kota tents....
and events in Bahá'u'lláh's lifetime. Giornale di Sicilia
Giornale di Sicilia
Giornale di Sicilia is an Italian daily national newspaper based in Palermo, Sicily. It is also the best-selling newspaper in Sicily.It was founded in 1860, immediately following the Expedition of the Thousand headed by Giuseppe Garibaldi; it was first published on June 7 under the name "Giornale...
, a daily paper of Palermo, ran an article about interviewing Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...
in Bergamo
Bergamo
Bergamo is a town and comune in Lombardy, Italy, about 40 km northeast of Milan. The comune is home to over 120,000 inhabitants. It is served by the Orio al Serio Airport, which also serves the Province of Bergamo, and to a lesser extent the metropolitan area of Milan...
noting his religion as Bahá'í in.
A Sinti
Sinti
Sinti or Sinta or Sinte is the name of a Romani or Gypsy population in Europe. Traditionally nomadic, today only a small percentage of the group remains unsettled...
gypsy, Vittorio Mayer Custodino, (known as "Spatzo" or "Sparrow") came in contact with the religion while in prison in Sicily. Through him a number of Sicilian Sinti joined the religion by March 1978. In 1989 the first member of the Arbëreshë
Arbëreshë
The Arbëreshë are a linguistic and ethnic Albanian minority community living in southern Italy, especially the regions of Apulia, Basilicata, Molise, Calabria and Sicily...
, Pietro Pandolfini, from Gela
Gela
Gela is a town and comune in the province of Caltanissetta in the south of Sicily, Italy. The city is at about 84 kilometers distance from the city of Caltanissetta, on the Mediterranean Sea. The city has a larger population than the provincial capital, and ranks second in land area.Gela is an...
, joined the religion. In 1990 some sixty youth gathered in Gela for a conference.
Respecting its regional autonomy and the depth of the Bahá'í community in 1995 the Bahá'ís of Sicily elected its own National Assembly. In September 2003 the Bahá'ís of Sicily celebrated the golden jubilee of the arrival of the religion there and which in 2003 had eleven assemblies.
Sardinia
In October 1953 Marie Ciocca moved to Cagliari in SardiniaSardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
and was appointed by Shoghi Effendi as a Knight of Bahá'u'lláh - Ciocca was an Italian-American and soon married James Holmlund who had also moved to Sardinia from America. In 1966 Livia Pargentino became the first native Sardinian Bahá'í. In August 1968 Ciocca was buried in the cemetery of Cagliari. In 1968 there was a public meeting in Sardinia which was also the subject of the local newspaper article. In November 1975 the local assembly of Cagliari held a booth at a 10 day fair on Sardinia as well as an observation of United Nations Day
United Nations Day
In 1947, the United Nations General Assembly declared 24 October, the anniversary of the Charter of the United Nations, as which "shall be devoted to making known to the peoples of the world the aims and achievements of the United Nations and to gaining their support for" its work.In 1971 the...
. In November 1975 a television talk program called Ore Venti out of Cagliari reviewed the religion. The interviewer opened the program with a reading from Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh
Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh
Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh is a compilation of selected tablets and extracts from tablets by Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith...
. Alessandro Bausani then spoke of the history of the religion and explained Bahá'í administration
Bahá'í administration
The Bahá'í administration or Bahá'í administrative order refers to the administrative system of the Bahá'í Faith.It is split into two parts, the elected and the appointed...
. Another guest, Manuela Fanti, explained how and why she joined the religion. During the 25-minute interview Bausani stressed the universality of the religion by describing his recent trip to Bolivia. By summer 1976 Bahá'ís had been invited to address a number of religious studies classes in Cagliari and Alessandria
Alessandria
-Monuments:* The Citadel * The church of Santa Maria di Castello * The church of Santa Maria del Carmine * Palazzo Ghilini * Università del Piemonte Orientale-Museums:* The Marengo Battle Museum...
, hour long interviews had been granted on two Cagliari radio stations and an assembly was formed in Quartu Sant'Elena
Quartu Sant'Elena
Quartu Sant'Elena is a city and comune in the Province of Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy. It is the third biggest city of Sardinia with a population of c. 71,000 as of 2008.- History:...
. In 1978 the Bahá'ís of Cagliari and Quartu Sant'Elena pooled resources to support a booth at the Trade Fair in 1978.
Modern community
In 2002 the University of Bari established a course on ethics and economics, "Ethics and Economy: Towards a New World Order" that is based on Bahá'í teachings and appointed Bahá'í professor and businessman Giuseppe Robiati as its teacher. In 2008 the Baha'i community was hosting about 25 youth groups across Italy with more than 130 participants; three-fourths come from outside the Baha’i community. In February 2009 a regional conference for souther Europe was hosted for nearly 1,700 people, 300 of them children and junior youth, and 100-plus from Sicily alone, with Baha’i communities from across southern Europe. The conference was held at Abano Terme, just outside of Padua. Artist presentations included two talented opera singers from Slovenia and Malta, a pianist from Romania, a Bulgarian folk singer, and a professional guitarist from Croatia, Greece sent a quintet of female singers as well as dancers from Rhodes, Sicilian folk dancers. Simultaneous translation was provided in English, Greek, Italian, and Romanian. Jamshid Varjavandi, the director of the Center for Baha’i Studies in Acuto attended. The `Irfán Colloquia regularly meet at the Center for Bahá'í Studies: Acuto, Italy since 1995.Demographics
The Association of Religion Data ArchivesAssociation of religion data archives
The Association of Religion Data Archives is a free source of online information related to American and international religion. Founded as the American Religion Data Archive in 1997, and online since 1998, the archive was initially targeted at researchers interested in American religion...
(relying mostly on the World Christian Encyclopedia
World Christian Encyclopedia
World Christian Encyclopedia is a reference work published by Oxford University Press, known for providing membership statistics for major and minor world religions in every country of the world, including historical data and projections of future populations.The first edition, by David B. Barrett,...
) estimated some 4,900 Bahá'ís in Italy in 2005. Bahá'í sources claim about 3,000 adherents and are present in over 300 locations across Italy.
External links
- Blog of the NSA
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- Local Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Bigarello
- Local Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Bologna
- Local Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Grosseto
- Local Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Mantova
- Local Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Milano
- Local Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Rimini
- Local Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Salerno
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