The Società Italiana di Musicologia was founded in Milan, at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory, on February 29, 1964, as an ideal continuation of the earlier Associazione dei Musicologi Italiani (1908-1942). Guglielmo Barblan was its first elected chairperson. Its first two years were devoted to launching two publications: its house organ, the Rivista Italiana di Musicologia (RIdM), followed by a series called Quaderni della Rivista Italiana di Musicologia.
RIdM has been published half-yearly since. It was first issued in 1966 by Olschki, with funding from the Accademia Chigiana, Sienna. Its structure, hosting essays and reviews, has remained virtually unchanged. Some issues contain a news section on SIdM activity and other events of scholarly relevance. RIdM has been uninterruptedly going on since 1966, albeit with occasional delays and single yearly — rather than half-yearly — issues.
The history of SIdM is documented in an essay by Bianca Maria Antolini (on this site) and in Paola Besutti’s essay, 40 anni di storia della RIdM (in Italian).