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Buddhism was first known in Italy at the start of the past century under the auspices of notable scholars like Giuseppe Tucci. Presently not all centres and schools in Italy are collected under UBI (Unione Buddhista Italiana).
[edit] History
Buddhism first was introduced to Italy in the year 1763 by a Buddhist Missionary named Quan Nguyen. Quan Nguyen, was a mentally unstable monk who was banished from what is now Vietnam to spread Buddhism. Many of the monks who knew him from the monastery he belonged believed he wouldn't succeed in this and thought this was a suitable punishment. When he arrived in Turin (Torino) in 1764, he successfully converted 30,000[citation needed] people by 1786 from highly unconventional methods of teaching. But when the Austrian Empire took control of this region, they tried him for heresy against the Roman Catholic Church and banished[citation needed] the 30,000 people Nguyen converted to Buddhism. Some 1,000 Buddhists hid and practiced secretly while the rest fled to North Africa. 15,000 Buddhists call Turin their home today.[citation needed] This is currently the largest Buddhist community in an Italian city. At the Nguyen Shing Lu Quan Temple, there is a memorial to the monk. This temple is named for Quan Nguyen and was eventually established by the ancestors of the few Buddhists that stayed in Turin for generations. Services are held in Italian and Vietnemese, in honor of Monk Quan Nguyen. It houses up to 1,000 persons. In Italian, Monk Quan Nguyen is known as Babo Pazzo or "crazy priest."
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