Home
The American Society of the Italian Legions of Merit
Mission
The American Society of the Italian Legions of Merit serves as the chief reference point in the United States for all links between the chivalric world of the Italian state and its decorati residents here.
Now in its fifth decade, the Society is comprised of more than six hundred individuals who, because of some personal quality or the rendering of some special service, have been decorated by the Republic of Italy. These decorations have been conferred in one of five Ordini Onorifici: Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, Order of Military Merit, Order of Labor Merit, Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity and Order of Vittorio Veneto. Awarded by decree of the President of the Republic (who by virtue of office is “Head” of all Italian Orders of Knighthood), each is internationally recognized as rooted in the umbilicus of Italian history and as a prerogative of Italian sovereignty.
Founded in 1965 on the basis of strengthening the traditional bonds of friendship existing between Italy and the United States, the Society is national in scope, international in spirit, and functions at the highest levels of the chivalric, diplomatic and beneficent arenas. While providing financial assistance to a wide range of cultural and humanitarian endeavors, its prestige as a pre-eminent institution, headquartered in New York’s splendid Columbus Townhouse, ranks the Society as an important American situs for conveying the shared interests of both nations to a wider audience.
