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Masonry in Italy had been outlawed by the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini, but it was reborn after the Second World War under USA encouragement.

However, its traditions of free thinking under the Risorgimento morphed into a fervent anti-communism.

The increasing influence of the left at the end of the 1960s had the Masons of Italy deeply worried.

In 1971, Grand Master Lino Salvini of the Grand Orient of Italy — one of Italy's largest Masonic lodges — assigned to Gelli the task of reorganizing the lodge.