Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

comprises a minority of the country's religious population. The

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

is by far the largest

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

denomination, but Protestantism has a significant presence. While the

CESNUR The Center for Studies on New Religions (), otherwise abbreviated as CESNUR, is a nonprofit organization based in Turin, Italy that focuses on the academic study of new religious movements and opposes the anti-cult movement. It was established ...

(an Italian

think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...

devoted to religious studies, especially on new religions in Italy) asserts that there are 442,377 Protestants in Italy, due to the difficulty of keeping accurate records regarding the proclaimed religion of immigrants to the country, that number likely reflects, at best, only an approximation of the actual number of Protestants in the country. In 2022, non-Catholic Christians made up 4% of the population, US State Dept 2022 report
/ref> while estimates suggest that 0.65% of the country has a Protestant background.

History

The oldest known of Italy's Protestant churches, the Waldensian Evangelical Church, is a pre-

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

Protestant denomination, which was founded by

Peter Waldo Peter Waldo (; also ''Valdo'', ''Valdes'', ''Waldes''; , ''de Vaux''; ; c. 1140 – c. 1205) was the leader of the Waldensians, a Christian spiritual movement of the Middle Ages. The tradition that his first name was "Peter" can only be traced ...

in the 12th century and, after the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

, adhered to

Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...

theology and became the Italian branch of the Reformed churches. The church's heartland is a cluster of Alpine valleys, the so-called "Waldensian Valleys" ( Val Pellice, Val Chisone and

Valle Germanasca The Valle Germanasca is a valley in the Metropolitan City of Turin, Piedmont, north-western Italy run by the Germanasca stream, a right affluent of the Chisone. The valley, in the past affected by a strong depopulation, is now partially characte ...

), in western

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

. Since 1975 the Waldensians form a united church with the

Methodist Evangelical Church in Italy The Methodist Evangelical Church in Italy (), known also as Italian Methodist Church (''Chiese Metodista Italiana''), is a Protestant church in the Methodist tradition active in Italy that is in full communion with the historical Waldensian Evang ...

. The ideas of

Girolamo Savonarola Girolamo Savonarola, OP (, ; ; 21 September 1452 – 23 May 1498), also referred to as Jerome Savonarola, was an ascetic Dominican friar from Ferrara and a preacher active in Renaissance Florence. He became known for his prophecies of civic ...

also had spread around Florence around the 15th century. The Reformation in Italy began at the end of the 15th century and quickly collapsed at the beginning of the 17th century. Its development was hindered by stern repression by the

Inquisition The Inquisition was a Catholic Inquisitorial system#History, judicial procedure where the Ecclesiastical court, ecclesiastical judges could initiate, investigate and try cases in their jurisdiction. Popularly it became the name for various med ...

of the Catholic Church. Groups of Italian Protestants had more comfortable lives in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, particularly in the Graubünden region. On 17 February 1848 Charles Albert, king of Piedmont-Sardinia, granted religious freedom and civic emancipation to the Waldensians. Freedom of worship and equality of civic and political rights were later extended to

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

and to the other Italian states that were progressively annexed to Piedmont-Sardinia during the process of

unification of Italy The unification of Italy ( ), also known as the Risorgimento (; ), was the 19th century Political movement, political and social movement that in 1861 ended in the Proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, annexation of List of historic states of ...

. Newer Waldensian congregations sprang up as well as the Free Christian Church (which lasted from 1852 to 1904) and the Evangelical Christian Church of the Brethren. Meanwhile British and American missionaries began to preach and establish

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

and

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

churches. In the early 20th century, missionaries spread the

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a movement within the broader Evangelical wing of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes direct personal experience of God in Christianity, God through Baptism with the Holy Spirit#Cl ...

gospel throughout the country. Nowadays, most of those resulting Pentecostal congregations belong to the Assemblies of God in Italy, the Federation of Pentecostal Churches, and the Apostolic Church in Italy. The Federation of Evangelical Churches in Italy (FCEI), formed in 1967, comprises all the historical Protestant churches of Italy (including the Union of Methodist and Waldensian Churches, the

Lutheran Evangelical Church in Italy The Lutheran Evangelical Church in Italy (, , abbreviated CELI or ELKI) is a Protestant denomination in the Lutheran tradition in Italy. Founded in 1949, the CELI/ELKI, which includes both German- and Italian-speaking communities, is a member o ...

, the Baptist Evangelical Christian Union of Italy, and some minor churches), plus two observer members with a large following (the Federation of Pentecostal Churches and the Italian Union of Seventh-day Adventist Christian Churches). Protestantism, especially in its Pentecostal forms, is thus on the rise. The Assemblies of God have the majority of their communities in the South and, according to Caritas Italiana, in 2012 the North of Italy was home to 850 "African Neo-Pentecostal churches".

References

{{Religion in Italy

History

See also

References