Back in 1980, a small group of members of a Venetian Masonic lodge under the auspices of the Gran Lodge of Italy of Free and Accepted Masons (Piazza del Gesu, Palazzo Vitelleschi), decided to attempt a daring venture.
They tried to create a masonic lodge of a liberal mixed (man and women) denomination at the heart of the dogmatic orthodox freemasonry of the United Grand Lodge of England which still now only initiates male candidates.
The Respectable Lodge Marco Polo was founded in the city of London by a small group of Italian brothers who divided their lives between Venice and the United Kingdom. As for any human creation, the start of the adventure was riddled with difficulties and obstacles but the tenacity of the Italian brethren prevailed…
Lodge Marco Polo recently celebrated its 38th birthday and has been going from strength to strength over the years.
Initially only open to Italian speaking men and women, the membership of the lodge was expanded to non-Italian speakers and the Lodge adopted both languages, Italian and English in its working methods.
Grand Lodge of Italy is one of the two historical Obediences dating back to the beginning of the 19th century when the Grand Orient of Italy was initially founded.
Grand Lodge of Italy is a liberal Obedience which has adopted the Ancient Free and Accepted Scottish Rite and was one of the first European Masonic institutions to open its doors to female candidates on a par with their male counterpart.
Grand Lodge of Italy is honoured to number two of its lodges working in London after the foundation of a second lodge, called “Terminus”, in 2016.
We would welcome people from many different background but who share the core values of freemasonry which are recapped in the trilogy of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.
If you are interested and you want to know more, please write to info@gldi.co.uk
"If you can keep your head when all about you
are losing theirs and blaming it on you.
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too.
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise.
If you can dream and not make dreams your master,
If you can think and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same.
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools.
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss.
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And, which is more, you'll be a Man, my son!"
Rudyard Kipling
English 
Italiano