Freemasonry and Fascism: From the Great War to the Banning of the Lodges

On Tuesday 21 October 2025, at the Antico Caffè San Marco in Trieste, the new season of the series “The Third Tuesday of the Month” began. The initiative is organised by the cultural association Manlio Cecovini Study Society.

The guest at this first event was the historian Fulvio Conti, Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Florence, who presented two of his recent books, both published in 2025: Massoneria e fascismo. Dalla Grande Guerra alla messa al bando delle logge (Carocci) and Andare per i luoghi della massoneria (Il Mulino).

Introduced and moderated by Luca Manenti, the meeting opened with a reminder of the importance of a rigorous and multidisciplinary historical approach, capable of shedding light on still little-known pages of Italian history. Conti, one of the foremost scholars of modern Freemasonry, outlined the central themes of his research into the complex relationship between Freemasonry and Fascism, from the end of the First World War to the 1925 decree dissolving the lodges.

The historian reconstructed a web of political and cultural relations marked by initial ambiguities and illusions of cooperation, which culminated in the abrupt reversal that led Mussolini’s regime to outlaw Freemasonry. Unpublished documents from public and private archives – including papers belonging to Grand Master Domizio Torrigiani – confirm the financial support offered by certain Masonic circles to Mussolini in the days immediately preceding the March on Rome.

Conti highlighted how, in the post-war period, Freemasonry found itself facing a new political landscape: on one side, the rise of the Catholics with Don Sturzo’s founding of the Partito Popolare; on the other, the growing radicalisation of socialism. Within this context, Mussolini appeared to many as a possible figure of balance – at least until the consolidation of his regime brought about the repression of the lodges.

In conversation with Manenti, Conti retraced the events that marked the gradual marginalisation of Freemasons from public life, culminating in the violence of 1924–25 and the destruction of lodge archives – a loss that has deprived historical research of invaluable sources. References were also made to the complex legacy of Freemasonry in twentieth-century Italy: from family lineages linking figures such as Amendola, Berlinguer, Calvino, Napolitano, and Scalfari (all sons of Freemasons) to its ties with the history of Italian enterprise, from Luisa Spagnoli to Arturo Gazzoni.

During the discussion, Conti also emphasised the importance of an unbiased historical reading – one capable of conveying the plurality of Masonic experiences and their influence within the public sphere, while also acknowledging their contradictions. “The history of Freemasonry,” he concluded, “is a mirror of twentieth-century Italy – of its ambiguities and its fractures. It cannot be read in a single, definitive way, but must be understood in all its complexity, with critical insight and intellectual curiosity.”

The event, attended by a large and engaged audience, inaugurated a new year of meetings which, in the spirit of historical dissemination and civic dialogue, will continue on the third Tuesday of every month.

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