Scouting and Guiding in Italy
Scouting and Guiding in Italy consists of several associations and federations, including more than 225,000 male Scouts and female Guides. Next to Germany, France and Russia, Italy is the country with the most fragmented Scout movement, but it is also one of the few countries where the single largest association, in this case the Associazione Guide e Scouts Cattolici Italiani, is denominational and comprises more of 80% of the country's Scouts and Guides. Also, counting the other Catholic associations, more than 90% of the Italian Scout movement is Catholic (roughly reflecting distribution of religion in Italy). History The first attempts at Scouting in Italy go back to 1910. They are due in part to the meeting between English gentlemen, who were directly influenced by the work and ideas of Robert Baden-Powell, and Italian educators already engaged in pedagogical activity within the new education of the beginning of the century. The meeting between teacher Remo Molinari and Francis Vane, an old aide of Baden-Powell's and a former Scout Commissioner of London before Baden-Powell ousted him from The Scout Association, led to the founding of the Ragazzi Esploratori Italiani (Italian Boy Scouts, REI) on 12 July 1910 in Bagni di Lucca, Tuscany.