The first assembly of the Italian Statistical Society was held in Rome on May 4 1939, under the chairmanship of G. Pietra, C. Gini and F. P. Cantelli. Established as a non-profit organization, ever since SIS aimed to promote and develop Statistics in the field of theoretical, methodological and applied research. The first society meeting was held jointly with the Società Italiana per il Progresso delle Scienze, in Pisa from October 11th to 15th 1939 to celebrate the centennial of the first Congress of Italian Scientists, which had taken place in Pisa in 1839. The opening speech entitled "The Dangers of Statistics" was pronounced by Corrado Gini, who afterwards presided over SIS from 1941 to 1965, year of his death.
In its fiftieth anniversary, in 1989, SIS organized a conference on "Statistics and Society", in Pisa on October 9-10.

Contributions to SIS History

Giuseppe Leti's paper traces back the steps for the establishment of a national statistical society and that of Giuseppe Leti and Tommaso Gastaldi sums up the Society’s first fifty years.
To celebrate SIS sixtieth anniversary, on February 22, 1999 was held a meeting at the University of Rome "La Sapienza", with speeches by Presidents Giuseppe Leti, Alberto Zuliani, Alfredo Rizzi and Luigi Biggeri on their respective appointments.
Giuseppe Leti presented a paper entitled I contributi della Società Italiana di Statistica allo sviluppo della statistica e alla conoscenza della società civile ("Italian Statistical Society’s Contributions to the Development of Statistics and to the Understanding of Civil Society") at the SIPS 66th Meeting, focused on the role of scientific societies in Italy (Rome, October 2001).

Giuseppe Leti, Italian Statistical Society: A Short History, Società Italiana di Statistica, Roma 1993.
Giuseppe Leti - Angelo Zanella, History and Development, SIS bollettino n. 35, Roma 1995.

The Italian Statistical Society has grown up hand in hand with the fast spreading of quantitative methods for production and analysis of data in every fields of social life and has always worked to "promote the development of Statistical Sciences and their applications".
The Italian Statistical Society (SIS) was established thanks to the far-sighted view of 42 promoters who also approved the first Society by-law. During the nearly seventy years of Society activity, there have been 13 Presidents, 17 General Secretaries and 11 Treasurers.
Since 1988, when an amendment to the by-law has stipulated that an Ordinary Member can't be re-elected in succession in the same position of the Executive Board, the term of every office is four years.
Last but not least, a key role in the Society's life was played by all the Councillors, who committed themselves in the organization and improvement of the Society's scientific activities.