On October 1st and 2nd, amidst rigorous anti-Covid measures, the Grande Oriente d’Italia held its annual meeting in Rimini, which was attended by over 3,400 brothers, representing the 870 lodges of the Goi lodges that work throughout the country.
“Brothers traveling to see the stars again” was the title chosen this year for this important Italian Masonic event in homage to Dante Alighieri, on his 700th anniversary. Words inspired by his Comedy, but also an invitation, after the difficult moment that the whole world has been facing, to resume together, with joy and hope, the initiatory journey under the vault of the heavens that unites us all.
The opening took place on October 1st with the inauguration of two exhibitions, one set up by the Italian Masonic Philately Association dedicated to 60 famous brothers, and the other dedicated to Ettore Ferrari, a very important historical figure of Italian Freemasonry, who also was a famous artist and Grand Master of the Goi between 1904 1917.
The ritual works began in the afternoon and were suspended at 6.00 pm when the doors of the Temple were opened to the public. The homage to Dante Alighieri by the famous Italian actor Patrizio Rispo was followed by the Grand Master Stefano Bisi’s speech, in which the highest representative of the Goi appealed to all the brothers to overcome the difficult moment marked by the Covid pandemic.
“All together – the Grand Master said in a passage of his speech – we face a stormy sea. We do it with audacity and with a sense of duty and responsibility. All together – one can have a good idea on their own but its construction takes place if there is a collective commitment. Things to do seem difficult to us but we must dare if we want to achieve something beautiful and lasting in the infinite and laborious construction site where we work tirelessly on the Great Work. Only by joining forces – he added – and respecting others, seeking more points of mutual convergence and necessary solidarity, can something beautiful and useful be built to make a nation and the others flourish … Our invitation, our message that it rises strongly from Rimini, among those who speak of a new Humanism and a new Renaissance, it is that of a new Risorgimento ”.
The ritual work resumed on the morning of October 2nd and, on the sidelines, cultural meetings and book presentations on esoteric and Masonic subjects were held.
Twenty foreign Masonic Grand Lodges took part in the meeting of the Grand Orient of Italy.
