FEDERATION OF ITALIAN RECREATIONAL ASSOCIATIONS (F.A.R.I.). — An undertaking of the Female Youth of Catholic Action established in Rome in 1944 and extended from 1945 also to northern Italy immediately after its liberation. Its purpose is to offer healthy and Christian recreation to the Italian female youth at large. It operates in four fields of activity: sports, amateur dramatics, choral music, and tourism.
Organization: at the center is a National Committee based in Rome (Largo Cavalleggeri, 3a), with the national director, appointed by the Central Council of the Female Youth of Catholic Action; the National Committee includes by right the national chaplain, a secretary, a treasurer, and technical personnel for the various fields of work. In the provinces there are Provincial Committees and Municipal Committees, which coordinate sports, dramatic, or choral groups belonging to the Associations of the Female Youth of Catholic Action and to other affiliated groups, provided that they fully accept the Christian inspiration of their recreational activity. The National Center also has a Study Commission, composed of priests, professors of moral theology, and physicians, charged with resolving the problems of women’s sports. The F.A.R.I. is most highly developed in the north, especially in sporting activities.
There is a membership system entitling members to participate in the various initiatives. In the sporting field, accident insurance is available through the contracts in force at the Italian Sports Center (an undertaking of the Male Youth of Catholic Action).
Press: from 1945 to 1948, an informative monthly newspaper, Fari, was published for all members; at present a bulletin, Comunicati per le dirigenti, is published.
Activities: these take place both at the national and international levels. Most, however, are carried out locally, since the activity of the F.A.R.I. in general is recreational rather than competitive in character. Of particular importance are national and international sporting meetings, especially with France, with similar Catholic organizations, in the following sports: volleyball, basketball, tennis, figure skating, and track and field. An important and characteristic activity is the organization of national student championships for secondary schools.
For its (limited) competitive activities, the F.A.R.I. reaches agreements with the Italian national sports federations through appropriate conventions modeled on those in force at the Italian Sports Center. The F.A.R.I. belongs to the « Bureau pour le sport féminin », affiliated with the International Federation of Catholic Women’s Leagues, and the current (1950) national director of the F.A.R.I., Dr. Mariella Braidotti, is its vice-president.
Emesso Talentino
FEDERATION OF ITALIAN CATHOLIC SPORTS ASSOCIATIONS (F.A.S.C.I.).
The official date of its foundation is 13 May 1906, on the occasion of the Superior Council of the Italian Catholic Youth Society. The minutes record that it was decided to found a Federation of national Catholic sports associations, with a president who would belong to the Italian Catholic Youth but would not be its general president. The relevant passage reads: « The Superior Council of the Italian Catholic Youth Society, meeting in extraordinary session on 13 May 1906, with regard to sport affirms in principle that the sports associations initiated by the Circles should admit only young men of proven public and private morality; it is of the opinion that, although affiliated with the Italian Catholic Youth Society, they should be governed by a special Directing Center, separate and distinct from the Superior Council, while conforming to it in thought and action ».
This codified the sporting activity already under way within the Catholic Circles, encouraged by the general president of the Catholic Youth, attorney Paolo Pericoli. The promoter of Catholic sporting activity and the true founder of the F.A.S.C.I. in its organizational structures was Prof. Brother Biagio of the Christian Schools, whose secular name was Stefano Somaglia (1861–1915). At a conference held in Rome from 5 to 8 October 1903 by numerous Catholic sports associations, after a demonstration had been given in the presence of the Holy Father Pius X in the Belvedere Courtyard in the Vatican, the organizing committee of the event was instructed to direct « pro tempore » the Catholic sports associations, seeking a properly understood agreement with the pre-existing National Gymnastics Federation. When efforts to reach an agreement proved fruitless, the Superior Council of the Italian Catholic Youth Society, as stated above, brought the F.A.S.C.I. into being, establishing its headquarters in Rome and guaranteeing it an annual contribution of L. 3000 (three thousand lire), while stipulating that the affiliated associations should be openly Catholic and that the Central Directing Council should consist of nine members elected by the Superior Council of the Catholic Youth and nine elected by the affiliated associations.
The Statutes of the F.A.S.C.I. were formulated at the Catholic Sports Conference of Oropa on 23 August 1906. By 13 March 1907, 21 sports societies were 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 his responsibilities to attorney Cesare Ossicini, who remained in office until the dissolution of the F.A.S.C.I. itself. The general president of the Italian Catholic Youth was appointed honorary president. The F.A.S.C.I. then joined the International Union of Catholic Works for Physical Education, headquartered 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 Stadium, the official publication for federation proceedings; it was founded in 1906 and published in Rome (Via della Scrofa, 70), at the headquarters of the F.A.S.C.I.
Each year the F.A.S.C.I. generally convened in Rome the National Conference of the federated associations, to discuss problems and questions relating to organization and to hold the elections or appointments scheduled every three years.
For ten years, that is, until the war of 1915–18, there was a succession of regional, national, and international competitions, conferences, and contests. The one held in the Vatican was memorable, as was that of 1913, with the participation of more than a school of gymnasts. Of particular note after the war was the event of 1921, held on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Italian Catholic Youth Society.
Together with the Italian Catholic Youth Society, it promoted the establishment of the A.S.C.I. (Italian Catholic Scouting Association) on 17 January 1916, and its own president, Count Mario di Carpegna, became its first Central Commissioner.
The flag of the F.A.S.C.I., still preserved (1950) at the Central Presidency of the Italian Sports Center (Via Conciliazione 1, Rome), is white and surmounted by the emblem of the F.A.S.C.I. itself, representing a laurel wreath supporting two stylized Etruscan fasces.
In its publishing activity, the F.A.S.C.I. issued a great many practical manuals, following a rigorous and comprehensive method.
The aims of the F.A.S.C.I., which had been summarized in the following formula—uniting all Italian gymnastic and sporting forces, protecting their interests, serving as a link among them, and promoting physical education together with religious and moral education—encountered an obstacle beginning in 1923, following the creation of the National Agency for Physical Education by Decree no. 684; and subsequently with the establishment by the Fascist government of the National Balilla Organization for the assistance and physical and moral education of youth (Law of 3 April 1926, no. 2247). At first a covert persecution, then an open and finally a violent one (there were many assaults on Catholic athletes and the destruction 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 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 Italian Catholic Action Youth established the C.S.I. (Italian Sports Centre); thus, in other forms and with different structures, the former F.A.S.C.I. came back to life.