Neopaganism in Italy reportedly counted about 3,200 adherents in 2020, according to data fromCESNUR,^[1] divided among numerous neopagan, neodruidic, neoshamanic, or neo-witchcraft religions, presenting themselves as a varied set of cults that claim to descend from or be inspired by thepagan religions ofclassical or earlier eras.

Traces of ancient Roman and Mediterranean religions survive through theOsirian Egyptian Order (OOE), which originated from priests who fled Alexandria around 391 CE after the destruction of theSerapeum and settled in Naples.^[2] The OOE preserved Greco-Roman and Egyptian ritual traditions continuously over the centuries.^[3]Giuliano Kremmerz was initiated into the OOE in the late 19th century,^[4] and founded the Brotherhood of Myriam, which directly descends from the OOE.^[5] This phenomenon can be understood as a form of survival, as opposed to revival, of ancient ritual practices, and it has influenced some modern pagan groups in Italy.^[6]

Interest in revivingancient Roman religious traditions can be traced to theRenaissance, with figures such asGemistus Pletho andJulius Pomponius Laetus advocating for a revival,^[7] whenRenaissance magic was practiced as a revival ofGreco-Roman magic. Gemistus Plethon, who was from Mistras (near theMani Peninsula—where paganism had endured until the 12th century) encouraged the Medici, descendants of the Maniot Latriani dynasty, to found theNeoplatonic Academy inFlorence, helping to spark the Renaissance. Julius Pomponius Laetus (student of Pletho) established theRoman academy which secretly celebrated theNatale di Roma, a festival linked to thefoundation of Rome, and celebrated the birthday ofRomulus.^[8][9] The Academy was dissolved in 1468 whenPope Paul II ordered the arrest and execution of some of the members,Pope Sixtus IV allowed Laetus to open the academy again until theSack of Rome of the 1527.

During 19th-century Italy, the fall of thePapal States and the process ofItalian unification fosteredanti-clerical sentiment among the intelligentsia. Intellectuals like archaeologistGiacomo Boni^[10] Pagan and writerRoggero Musmeci Ferrari Bravo promoted the restoration of Roman religious practices.^[11][12]

Since the early 20th century there has been a resurgence of neopaganism in Italy within esoteric circles, spearheaded by the "Schola Italica" founded byAmedeo Rocco Armentano, who believed that Italian tradition had its main influences from thePythagorean mysteries as well asHermeticism. The Schola sought to metaphorically stand ontwo pillars, one symbolized byPythagoras and the other byHermes Trismegistus.^[13]

The mathematicianArturo Reghini, a disciple of Armentano,^[14] carried on the project of reviving the Pythagorean roots of theItalic Roman tradition. In the 1920s, with perennialist philosopherJulius Evola and disciple Giulio Parise, he founded a "magical" chain calledGruppo di Ur, an esoteric fellowship that attracted other Pythagoreans from various backgrounds.^[15] The group's organ was the magazineUr (1927–1928).

In 1928 Evola published the essayPagan Imperialism, which can be considered the 20th-century manifesto of Italian political paganism, aimed at opposing theLateran Pacts between the State and the Church. Although the group disbanded at the end of 1928, its chain continued for another year under the nameKrur in 1929.

That year,Krur published a mysterious document from hermetic circles in Rome, signed with the pseudonym Ekatlos, which many attribute to orientalistLeone Caetani. The document explicitly claimed that Italy's victory inWorld War I and the subsequent rise offascism were supposedly facilitated, if not determined, by certain Etrusco-Roman rites performed following a mysterious discovery of ancient magical artifacts.^[16]

Beyond strictly esoteric aspects, studies have been conducted on pagan cults that allegedly survived in Italy even during theChristian era, gradually transformed or syncretized with popular Catholicism. This complex of traditions, beliefs, and rituals, still present today in veiled forms mainly in rural and agrarian settings, has been calledItalian witchcraft.^[17]

Adherents to the modernreconstructionism of this ancient witchcraft considerCharles Godfrey Leland's bookAradia, or the Gospel of the Witches (1899) as a reference text, the first to explore such pre-Christian pagan cults that purportedly survived in Italy.^[18] AnthropologistMargaret Murray argued that "the continuity of pagan religion during theMiddle Ages becomes irrefutable when one discovers that it survives even today".^[19] Today, Italian neopaganism, akin toWicca in the Anglo-Saxon world, seeks to recover this Old Religion|primordial religiosity, based on ananimistic view ofnature, believed to be inhabited by invisible creatures andspirits,^[20] along with the practice ofherbs, formulas, and spells often used in conjunction with sacraments and prayers of the Catholic Church.^[21]

The modern reconstructionism of ancient witchcraft is sometimes referred to as Stregheria, founded in the 1970s by Italian AmericanLeo Martello; the Wicca tradition, of Anglo-Saxon origin, is also present in Italy with covens of various traditions:British Traditional Wicca (Gardnerian andAlexandrian), Black Forest,Temple of Ara, Minoan Brotherhood, NY Wica Tradition,Seax-Wica, Italic Wicca, Temple of Callaighe, andDianic Wicca. Since 2002, theCircle of Trivi has been active, one of Italy's first Wiccan associations, managing theTemple of the Moon in Milan. BothWicca andStregheria draw inspiration from the textAradia, or the Gospel of the Witches, which is said to contain information on ancient Italian witchcraft traditions. Independent local movements also exist, sometimes referred to as "traditional witchcraft".

Among the reconstructionist cults of classical era religions, there is Roman-Italic neopaganism, represented by thereconstructionist Roman religion, inspired byRoman mythology. Organizations adhering to this includeNova Roma, theAssociazione Tradizionale Pietas, which manages various places of worship across several Italian regions, theCommunitas Populi Romani, the Movimento Tradizionale Romano, the association with the longest continuous presence, theSocietas Hesperiana pro Cultu Deorum, focused on the worship of the Genius Loci and sacred geography, and theFederazione Pagana, which presents elements more related to Greek mythology and neopagan and neowitchcraft forms.^[22][23] Another neopagan association present in Italy is Nova Roma.^[24]

There are also neopagans who claim to descend from or be inspired by other ancient European and Mediterranean religions, such asGermanic heathenry, inspired byGermanic mythology andNorse mythology, with adherents like theComunità Odinista, theTempio del Lupo (Wolfsangismo), the associationΆsa-Ódhinn (Italian branch of theAsatru Folk Assembly), theAssociazione Bosco di Chiatri, and theTribù Winniler – Cerchio Bragafull (Vanatrú);Kemetism, inspired by theancient Egyptian religion and represented by the associationKemetismo Ortodosso Solare;Celtic reconstructionism anddruidism, inspired byCeltic mythology, represented by theCerchio Druidico Italiano, theOrdine Druidico Italiano Bosco dell'Awen, and theMovimento Spirituale Riformato dei Nativi d'Insubria (Celtic neopaganism); andHellenism, inspired byGreek mythology.^[25]

Among the movements classified as neo-shamanic, meaning they claim to descend from or be inspired by traditionalshamanism, there are small groups in Italy that draw from the mysticism ofpre-Columbian America,^[26] and others affiliated with theGoddess movement, such as theTempio della Grande Dea^[27] in Rome and theTempio della Dea in Turin^[28] and inSassari.

In recent years, there has also been the emergence of very smallneopagan groups in Italy withsupremacist,neofascist, andneo-Nazi political leanings, whose religious views are aligned withEsoteric Nazism.^[29][30]

• Religion in Italy
• Italian folklore
• Witchcraft in Italy
• Stregheria
• Via Romana agli Dèi
• Julius Evola

• Modern paganism in Italy

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• Use dmy dates from October 2024