Ordine Figli d’Italia

Founded on June 22, 1905, by Dr. Vincenzo Sellaro. The aim was to create a support system for all Italian immigrants that would assist them with becoming U.S. citizens, provide health/death benefits and educational opportunities and offer assistance with assimilation into American society. In 1928 Sellaro was given the key to the City of New York in recognition of his social and medical achievements.

Fast Forward

In 2017, the Order Sons of Italy in America (OSIA) was renamed the Order Sons and Daughters of Italy in America® (OSDIA).

Fast Forward

February 2020: Led by founding President Carmelo Cutul, the new Lodge “Capitolo di Roma” #3002 has received their Charter and started its activities. Based in Rome, Italy it is the first lodge established outside of North America in the 115 year history of OSDIA aiming to foster relations between the Italy and the Italian-American and Italian communities in America.

June 2020: The Palermo chapter # 3009 of OSDIA, was dedicated to the founder of the organization, Dr. Vincenzo Sellaro, a native of Polizzi Generosa, a beautiful small town in Palermo’s province. Headed by founder president Tiberio Mantia, is aimed to creating a bridge between Sicily and the North America and to activating a network of solidarity with Italians in America to strengthen relationships, rediscover roots, and keep traditions alive.

October 2022: The Pope Blesses OSDIA when National President Robert A. (Bob) Bianchi, Esq. of the Order Sons and Daughters of Italy in America® (OSDIA), led a delegation of OSDIA, Sons of Italy Foundation (SIF), and Commission for Social Justice (CSJ) National Officers on a historic visit to Rome, Italy to Charter a New Lodge. President Bianchi was the first National President in the storied 117-year history of OSDIA, the oldest and largest organization for Italian Americans in the United States, to personally install a new lodge in Italy. The founders of the new Dr. Vincenzo Sellaro Lodge #3009 of Palermo, Sicily, Italy, received a charter in a ceremony during a meeting of the Capitolo di Roma #3002, the first OSDIA lodge in Italy.

July 2023: On July 13, 2023 Mrs. Patrizia Berardi kindly invited the Supreme Council representatives to her home to discuss a second lodge in Rome. With the help of Carmelo Cutuli, the two are building a Catholic-based lodge of young professionals and entrepreneurs based in Vatican City.

This became more than a visit, but rather, a beginning to a significant relationship. All who attended bacame the first to sign the charter for this new lodge, creating both a historic experience and the first time in the Order’s history that Americans signed a charter for a new lodge in Italy.