The first SA Group in Italy began five years ago when two people from different paths met. Motivated by a common desire to share their Twelve Step recovery experiences, they went about trying to help others recover from lust addiction. The first goal was to translate the White Book, available in many languages, but not in Italian, to allow those looking for a solution to benefit from one of the fundamental tools of the program. Later, the creation of a website allowed the Italians to find a remedy for their inner malaise.

Thanks to the internet, recovering sexaholics in Italy were able to meet, despite being in locations hundreds of kilometers apart. The first face-to-face groups followed, and today there are many such groups.

One weekend in late 2017, the first SA Italia workshop took place, which allowed this small group of people to gather and connect through working the Steps. Since then, the message of hope has been carried to many people. The fellowship, which encompasses Italy and the Italian-speaking region of Switzerland, has met several times. The sponsor-sponsee relationship has been at the core of our work. We have found that language and culture are not barriers to SA’s common solution, and so we benefited from working with SA members from other countries.

The pandemic, instead of destroying the cohesion of the group, has motivated us to explore new ways to grow together, including through online meetings. As the pandemic slows, our group meetings resume: during our August holiday, Norcia di SA will meet. There we will strengthen our fellowship in a safe environment and with a flexible attendance policy: participants can stay at one of several nearby farms, and can attend for the entire week or a part thereof.

For information contact the SA Integrità di Roma group, saitaliainfo@gmail.com.

A Summary of SA Italy:

• Eight physical groups in eight cities (including one in Switzerland).
• Daily meetings (online and face-to-face).
• Translated the White Book (il Libro Bianco) and Step into Action (Passa all’azione). And we have AA literature in Italian, too.