During the October 1849 general conference, Brigham Young called Lorenzo Snow and Joseph Toronto to open missionary work in Italy.

While en route to Italy, Snow called T. B. H. Stenhouse and Jabez Woodard to serve in the new mission.

They arrived in Genoa on 25 June 1850, and Snow offered a prayer dedicating Italy to the preaching of the gospel and organized the Italian Mission on 19 September on a mountain peak near the city of Torre Pellice.

[5] In 1853 a group of approximately 70 Waldensians, including men, women, and children left their homes in the Piedmont Valleys and migrated to Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, after being converted by Lorenzo Snow.

[11] Vincenzo Di Francesca was one of the first converts in Italy in the 20th century, and his story was documented in the 1987 LDS Church film How Rare a Possession.

In 1964 a new Italian-language translation of the Book of Mormon was published, and Ezra Taft Benson successfully negotiated with Italian government officials to allow missionary work to begin again.

In 2016, Massimo De Feo became the first Italian national to be appointed a general authority of the church.