FEDERATION OF ITALIAN RECREATIONAL ASSOCIATIONS (F.A.R.I.). - A work of the Gioventù Femminile di Azione Cattolica, established in Rome in 1944 and from 1945 extended also to northern Italy immediately after the liberation. Purpose: to offer a healthy and Christian recreation to the mass of Italian young women. It operates in four sectors of activity: sports, amateur dramatics, choral, and tourism.
Organization: at the center, a National Committee with its seat in Rome (Largo Cavalleggeri, 3a) with the national directress, appointed by the Central Council of the Gioventù Femminile di Azione Cattolica; the National Committee includes by right: the national chaplain, a secretary, a treasurer and technical members for the sectors of work. In the periphery: Provincial Committees and Municipal Committees that coordinate sports, amateur dramatic or choral groups of the Associations of the Gioventù Femminile di Azione Cattolica and of other affiliated groups, provided that they fully accept the Christian inspiration of their recreational activity. At the National Center there is furthermore a Study Commission, composed of priests, professors of moral theology and doctors, with the task of resolving the problems of women's sport. The F.A.R.I. is more developed in the north, especially in sports activity.
There is a membership registration that gives the right to participate in the various initiatives. For the sports side there is the possibility of taking advantage of insurance against accidents, making use of the contracts in force at the Centro Sportivo Italiano (a work of the Gioventù Maschile di Azione Cattolica).
Press: from 1945 to 1948, of an informative character for all members, a monthly newspaper, Fari, saw the light; at present a bulletin, Comunicati per le dirigenti, is published.
Activities: they are carried out both on the national and on the international level. Most of them, however, are realized locally, the whole activity of the F.A.R.I. generally having a recreational rather than competitive character. Of particular note are the national and international sports meetings, especially with France, with similar Catholic organizations, for the following sports: volleyball, basketball, tennis, figure skating, track and field. An important and typical activity is the organization of the national student championships for middle schools.
The F.A.R.I., for its (reduced) competitive activities, comes to agreements with the Italian national sports Federations, with appropriate conventions along the lines of those in force at the Centro Sportivo Italiano. The F.A.R.I. adheres to the « Bureau pour le sport féminin » dependent on the International Federation of Catholic Women's Leagues, and the current (1950) national directress of the F.A.R.I., Dr. Mariella Braidotti, is its vice-president.
Emesso Talentino
FEDERAZIONE ASSOCIAZIONI SPORTIVE CATTOLICHE ITALIANE (F.A.S.C.I.).
The official birth certificate dates back to 13 May 1906, on the occasion of the Superior Council of the Società della Gioventù Cattolica Italiana. In the minutes, in fact, it appears that it was resolved to found a Federation of the national Catholic sports associations with a president belonging to the Gioventù Cattolica Italiana, but who should not be the general president. Here are the terms: « The Superior Council of the Società della Gioventù Cattolica Italiana, gathered in extraordinary session on 13 May 1906, with regard to sport affirms as a matter of principle that the sports associations, initiated by the Circles, must welcome only young people of proven public and private morality; it is of the opinion that they, although aggregated to the Società della Gioventù Cattolica Italiana, be regulated by a special Directive Center, separate and distinct from the Superior Council, though in conformity of thought and action ».
This codified the sports activity already in progress within the Catholic Circles, warmly advocated by the general president of the Gioventù Cattolica, attorney Paolo Pericoli. The agitator of Catholic sports activity and true founder of the F.A.S.C.I. in its structures was Prof. Brother Biagio of the Christian Schools, in the world Stefano Somaglia (1861-1915). In a Congress held in Rome on 5-8 Oct. 1903 by numerous Catholic sports Associations, after holding a display in the presence of the Holy Father Pius X in the courtyard of the Belvedere in the Vatican, a mandate was given to the organizing committee of the event to direct « pro tempore » the Catholic sports Associations, seeking a well-understood agreement with the pre-existing Federazione Ginnastica Nazionale. Once the efforts at agreement proved vain, the Superior Council of the Società della Gioventù Cattolica Italiana, as has been said, gave life to the F.A.S.C.I., defining its seat in Rome, assuring it an annual contribution of L. 3000 (three thousand), admonishing that the affiliated associations would have had to be openly Catholic and that the Central Directive Council be constituted by nine members elected by the Superior Council of the Gioventù Cattolica Italiana and nine elected by the affiliated Associations.
The Statute of the F.A.S.C.I. was formulated at the Catholic Sports Congress of Oropa on 23 Aug. 1906. As of 13 March 1907, 21 sports societies are recorded as federated. The first president, Count Mario di Carpegna, was elected on 13 March 1907 and remained in office until 1922, subsequently handing over to attorney Cesare Ossicini, who remained there until the dissolution of the F.A.S.C.I. itself. The general president of the Gioventù Cattolica Italiana is appointed honorary president. The F.A.S.C.I. therefore adheres to the International Union of Catholic Works of Physical Education with its seat in Paris, of which Count di Carpegna was appointed honorary president.
The organ of the F.A.S.C.I. was the bimonthly sports periodical, official for federal acts: Stadium, founded in 1906 and published in Rome (Via della Scrofa, 70) at the seat of the F.A.S.C.I.
Every year the F.A.S.C.I. generally convened in Rome the national Congress of the federated Associations to discuss the problems and questions inherent in the organization and for the elections or appointments, set for each three-year period.
For ten years, that is until the war of '15-'18, there was a succession of competitions and congresses and regional, national and international contests. Memorable was the one in the Vatican, and that of 1913 with the participation of more than a school of gymnasts. Of particular note, then, after the war, was that of '21 on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Società della Gioventù Cattolica Italiana.
In union with the Società della Gioventù Cattolica Italiana, on 17 January 1916 it promoted the constitution of the A.S.C.I. (Associazione Scoutistica Cattolica Italiana), and its own president, Count Mario di Carpegna, is its first Central Commissioner.
The Flag of the F.A.S.C.I., which is still preserved (1950) at the Central Presidency of the Centro Sportivo Italiano (Via Conciliazione 1, Rome), is white and is surmounted by the emblem of the F.A.S.C.I. itself, representing a laurel wreath supporting two stylized Etruscan fasces.
The F.A.S.C.I., in its publishing activity, published a great many practical handbooks, following a rigorous and complete technique.
The aims of the F.A.S.C.I., which had been summarized in the following expression: to unite all the Italian gymnastic and sports forces, to protect their interest, to serve as a bond among them and to promote their physical education, not divorced from religious and moral education, encountered an obstacle, beginning in 1923, following the creation of the Ente Nazionale per l'Educazione Fisica, made with decree no. 684; and then with the constitution of the Opera Nazionale Balilla for the assistance and physical and moral education of youth (law 3 Apr. 1926, no. 2247), on the part of the fascist government. At first a subtle persecution, then open and finally violent (many were the assaults on Catholic sportsmen and the devastation of premises) made the activity of the F.A.S.C.I. practically impossible.
Faced with this impossibility and being unable to guarantee the safety of its federated members, the presidency of the F.A.S.C.I., on 24 April 1927, ordered the dissolution of the Federation, leaving its Associations free to join or not to join the individual federations of the C.O.N.I. In 1944, after the liberation of Rome, the Central Presidency of the Gioventù Italiana di Azione Cattolica gave life to the C.S.I. (Centro Sportivo Italiano); thus the old F.A.S.C.I. came back to life in other forms and structures.