The ''Associazione Italiana Guide e Scouts d'Europa Cattolici'' (translation: Italian Association Catholic Guides and Scouts of Europe), also referred to as Scouts d'Europa - FSE, is a

Catholic 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 ...

Scouting Scouting or the Scout Movement is a youth social movement, movement which became popularly established in the first decade of the twentieth century. It follows the Scout method of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activi ...

and Guiding association in

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 ...

, formed in 1976. In 1974 the ''

Associazione Scouts Cattolici Italiani The ''Associazione Scouts Cattolici Italiani'' (Association of Italian Catholic Scouts, ASCI) was a Catholic Scouting association active in Italy from 1916 to 1974, while being suspended under Fascism. In 1974, after a long debate, ASCI was merg ...

'' (ASCI, established in 1916) and the ''

Associazione Guide Italiane The ''Associazione Guide Italiane'' (Association of Italian Guides, AGI) was a Catholic Girl Scouting association active in Italy, founded in 1943. In 1974, AGI merged with the ''Associazione Scouts Cattolici Italiani'' (ASCI), its male counterpa ...

'' (AGI, established in 1943), the main Catholic male and female associations, were merged into the co-educational ''

Associazione Guide e Scouts Cattolici Italiani The ''Associazione Guide e Scouts Cattolici Italiani'' (, AGESCI) is a Catholic Scouting and Guiding association in Italy. It is coeducational and, as of 2024, has 182,000 members, including 33,454 leaders (of whom 1,947 priests), 1,885 local ...

'' (AGESCI). Two years later, some AGESCI groups and individual members, along with some ASCI and AGI leaders who had disagreed with the merger (and, above all, opposed the principle of coeducation) and had refused to join AGESCI, formed the ''Associazione Italiana Guide e Scouts d'Europa Cattolici'' (Scouts d'Europa - FSE). As of 2024, AIGSEC included 20,132 members, 183 local groups and 1,276 units, making it the second-largest organisation of that kind in the country, second only to AGESCI. The Scouts d'Europa - FSE, is also the second-largest member of the

International Union of Guides and Scouts of Europe The International Union of the Guides and Scouts of Europe - Federation of Scouts of Europe (Union Internationale des Guides et Scouts d’Europe, UIGSE; also known as ''Union Internationale des Guides et Scouts d'Europe – Fédération du Scou ...

- European Scouting Federation (UIGSE–FSE).

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website
Scouting and Guiding in Italy Youth organizations established in 1976 1976 establishments in Italy