The Church in Italy

Missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints first came to Italy in 1850. The first was Lorenzo Snow, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and later the fifth President of the Church.

President Snow and three other missionaries first preached to French Protestants in the Piedmont Region of northwestern Italy, which borders on France and Switzerland. Protestants had fled there to escape religious persecution. Many of those who joined the Church emigrated to America, and further progress was interrupted by anti-Church activity and heavy legal requirements. In 1862 active proselyting stopped.

After years of unsuccessful attempts, in 1964 the Church was finally allowed to resume missionary efforts, and the first congregation of Latter-day Saints in Italy was organized in 1966 in Brescia, in central northern Italy. That same year, the first mission was opened, in Florence. The first stake was organized in Milan in 1981.

Missionaries were then sent to many other Italian cities, and Church membership grew rapidly. Today there are two missions, 10 stakes, 101 congregations, over 26,000 Church members—and now a temple.