Antonio Seminario is the next Grand Master of the Grand Orient of Italy, the country's primary Masonic body. Seminario received one-third of his preferences in the lodges of Sicily and Calabria, his region. Seminario was born on February 5, 1958, in Crosia, in the province of Cosenza. His lodge is in Rossano. He is a candidate sponsored by the outgoing Grand Master Stefano Bisi, and his electoral campaign has followed a pattern of continuity. His adversary Leo Taroni, an entrepreneur hailing from Ravenna, was narrowly defeated (26 ballots out of over 14,000 voters). Taroni's election campaign had been centered around combating mafia infiltration within lodges. There has been heated debate between the two contenders, with threats of court action. The new Grand Master of Italy, a married father of two children, studied economics at the University of Salerno. He interrupted his academic studies to focus on the entrepreneurial and commercial activities of enterprises in the oil, gas, and energy industries.
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