Crema, Lombardy
By the 1859 Treaty of Zurich which ended the Austro-Sardinian War, Austria ceded Lombardy, including Crema, to France, who then immediately ceded it to Sardinia. This formed part of the "Risorgimento", which saw Sardinia become the Kingdom of Italy in 1861. In 1946, the Kingdom became the modern Italian Republic.
Bahá'í Faith in Italy
In October 1953 Marie Ciocca moved to Cagliari in Sardinia and was appointed by Shoghi Effendi as a Knight of Bahá'u'lláh - Ciocca was an Italian-American and soon married James Holmlund who had also moved to Sardinia from America. In 1966 Livia Pargentino became the first native Sardinian Bahá'í. In August 1968 Ciocca was buried in the cemetery of Cagliari. In 1968 there was a public meeting in Sardinia which was also the subject of the local newspaper article. In November 1975 the local assembly of Cagliari held a booth at a 10-day fair on Sardinia as well as an observation of United Nations Day. In November 1975 a television talk program called "Ore Venti" out of Cagliari reviewed the religion. The interviewer opened the program with a reading from Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh. Alessandro Bausani then spoke of the history of the religion and explained Bahá'í administration. Another guest, Manuela Fanti, explained how and why she joined the religion. During the 25-minute interview Bausani stressed the universality of the religion by describing his recent trip to Bolivia. By summer 1976 Bahá'ís had been invited to address a number of religious studies classes in Cagliari and Alessandria, hour-long interviews had been granted on two Cagliari radio stations and an assembly was formed in Quartu Sant'Elena. In 1978 the Bahá'ís of Cagliari and Quartu Sant'Elena pooled resources to support a booth at the Trade Fair in 1978.