About us

Our identity

The Masonic Lodge Bensalem 1308 is a regular lodge constituted in the Orient of Trani and affiliated with the Grand Orient of Italy (GOI), the principal Masonic obedience in Italy. The number 1308, which identifies the Lodge in the GOI register, is an integral part of our institutional identity.

Our Lodge belongs to a Masonic tradition whose Italian roots go back to the eighteenth century, and which has counted some of the most significant thinkers, artists and public figures in the nation’s history. The name “Bensalem” recalls the utopian city described by Francis Bacon in “The New Atlantis”: a symbolic place of science, wisdom and civil coexistence.

Purpose and outlook

Loggia Bensalem 1308 is neither a political nor a religious organisation. It is a cultural institution that fosters the moral and intellectual development of its members through a ritual and symbolic path rooted in the Western humanist tradition.

The core values that guide our work are freedom of conscience, fraternal equality, the search for truth, tolerance and commitment to the common good. These principles find expression in the Lodge’s work, in its cultural activities and in its relationship with the BAT province (Barletta-Andria-Trani).

Membership of the GOI

The Grand Orient of Italy is one of the oldest Masonic institutions in Europe. Founded in 1805, it brings together hundreds of lodges across the country. Affiliation with the GOI ensures that Loggia Bensalem 1308 works in keeping with the ethical and ritual standards of regular Freemasonry, within a network of relationships that extends across the whole of Italy and beyond.

The GOI is publicly recognised as a lawful association under Italian law. Its institutional positions, its history and its public initiatives are available on the obedience’s official website.