A military academy or service academy is an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the officer corps. It normally provides education in a military environment, the exact definition depending on the country concerned.
The Carabinieri are the national gendarmerie of Italy who primarily carry out domestic and foreign policing duties. It is one of Italy's main law enforcement agencies, alongside the Polizia di Stato and the Guardia di Finanza. As with the Guardia di Finanza but in contrast to the Polizia di Stato, the Carabinieri are a military force. As the fourth branch of the Italian Armed Forces, they come under the authority of the Ministry of Defence; for activities related to inland public order and security, they functionally depend on the Ministry of the Interior. In practice, there is a significant overlap between the jurisdiction of the Polizia di Stato and Carabinieri, although both of them are contactable through 112, the European Union's Single Emergency number. Unlike the Polizia di Stato, the Carabinieri have responsibility for policing the military, and a number of members regularly participate in military missions abroad.
The Italian Army is the land force branch of the Italian Armed Forces. The army's history dates back to the Italian unification in the 1850s and 1860s. The army fought in colonial engagements in China, Libya, Northern Italy against the Austro-Hungarian Empire during World War I, Abyssinia before World War II and in World War II in Albania, Balkans, North Africa, the Soviet Union, and Italy itself. During the Cold War, the army prepared itself to defend against a Warsaw Pact invasion from the east. Since the end of the Cold War, the army has seen extensive peacekeeping service and combat in Afghanistan and Iraq. Its best-known combat vehicles are the Dardo infantry fighting vehicle, the Centauro tank destroyer and the Ariete tank and among its aircraft the Mangusta attack helicopter, recently deployed in UN missions. The headquarters of the Army General Staff are located in Rome opposite the Quirinal Palace, where the president of Italy resides. The army is an all-volunteer force of active-duty personnel.
The Nunziatella Military School of Naples, Italy, founded November 18, 1787 under the name of Royal Military Academy, is the oldest Italian institution of military education among those still operating. Its building, familiarly called "Red Manor", and the adjacent church of the Santissima Annunziata, is an architectural monument of the city of Naples.
The Gold Medal of Military Valor is an Italian medal established on 21 May 1793 by King Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia for deeds of outstanding gallantry in war by junior officers and soldiers.
The article provides an overview of the entire chain of command and organization of the Italian Army after the reform of 1 May 2024 and includes all active units as of 1 May 2024. The Armed Forces of Italy are under the command of the Italian Supreme Defense Council, presided over by the President of the Italian Republic. The Italian Army is commanded by the Chief of the Army General Staff or "Capo di Stato Maggiore dell’Esercito" in Rome.
On March 1, 1984 the Italian Institute for Disarmament, Development and Peace (Istituto di ricerche per il disarmo, lo sviluppo e la pace in Rome published the entire Italian Army order of battle down to company level – this was justified by the radical party as one of its core demands was total disarmament of Europe, even though the data which was published was top secret. The Radical Party dissolved in 1989 and the IRDISP followed suit in 1990. But Radio Radicale has survived, and the OrBat can still be found today on the homepage of the radio.
The 37th Infantry Division "Modena" was a infantry division of the Royal Italian Army during World War II. The Modena was classified as a mountain infantry division, which meant that the division's artillery was moved by pack mules instead of the horse-drawn carriages of line infantry divisions. Italy's real mountain warfare divisions were the six alpine divisions manned by Alpini mountain troops. The division was formed on 25 March 1939 with units of the 5th Territorial Division "Imperia" and named for the city of Modena. The division was made up entirely of men from the city of Genoa and the surrounding Liguria region. The division's regimental depots were shared with the 63rd Infantry Division "Cirene", which was based in Benghazi in Libya and recruited its men from and trained them in Liguria.
As the Arma dei Carabinieri is the fourth service of the Italian Armed Forces, the Ranks and rank insignia of the Carabinieri are designed according to the military rank structure of Italy. Carabinieri personnel belongs to four different career paths, the Officer career, the Inspector career, the Sovrintendente career, and the basic Carabinieri career.
Spanish military units have coats of arms, badges and emblems to distinguish them from other units both joint Armed Forces and service branches units.
The Royal Sardinian Army was the army of the Duchy of Savoy and then of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which was active from 1416 until it became the Royal Italian Army on 4 May 1861.
With the 1975 reforms the Italian Army abolished the regimental level and replaced it with brigades made up of multiple arms. During the reform the army disbanded 48 regimental commands and reduced its force by 87 battalions. A further ten regimental commands were used to raise ten new brigade commands. Ten training centers, which for traditional reasons had carried the names of regiments, were also disbanded. The reduction in units also allowed to mechanize most of the remaining units in Northern Italy and Italy's defense strategy changed from a hold-at-all-costs territorial defense to one of mobile warfare.
The 7th CBRN Defense Regiment "Cremona" is the Italian Army's CBRN defense unit. Today the regiment is based in Civitavecchia in Lazio and assigned to the Artillery Command. The regiment was formed in 1860 by the Royal Sardinian Army and participated the same year in the Piedmontese invasion of Central and Southern Italy. In 1861 the regiment joined the Royal Italian Army and in 1866 it fought in the Third Italian War of Independence. During World War I the regiment served on the Italian front. In 1939 the regiment was assigned to the 44th Infantry Division "Cremona", which was deployed in Corsica when the Armistice of Cassibile was announced on 8 September 1943. The division immediately went on the offensive against German forces trying to retreat through the island. The division then joined the Italian Co-belligerent Army and was reorganized as Combat Group "Cremona". Equipped with British weapons and materiel the group was assigned to the British V Corps and fought in the Allied 1945 spring offensive.
The Artillery Command is an Italian Army command, which trains the personnel destined for the army's artillery units, develops the army's artillery doctrine, and supervises the Italian army's artillery units.
Augusto Ugolini was an officer in the Royal Italian Army during World War II, best known for his leadership during the battle of Culqualber, for which he was awarded the Gold Medal of Military Valor.
Riccardo Moizo was an Italian aviation pioneer in the early part of the 20th century and a general during World War II. He was Commander-General of the Carabinieri from 1935 to 1940 and the last High Commissioner of the Province of Ljubljana in 1943; from 1939 to 1943 he was also a member of the Italian Senate.
Ugo Cei was an Italian general and politician, who particularly distinguished himself during the First World War as brigade commander. In February 1935 he was appointed extraordinary Commissioner for honors for those who had died in war in Italy and abroad, and on March 25, 1939 he was made a Senator of the Kingdom. His decorations included the Knight Grand Cross and Officer of the Military Order of Savoy, three Medals of Military Valor and the War Cross of Military Valor.
Giuseppe Ottolenghi (1838–1904) was an Italian general and politician.
Alberto Mannerini was an Italian general during World War II. After the war he served as Commander-General of the Carabinieri from 1950 to 1954.
Luigi Nava (1851-1928) was an Italian General of the Army who participated in the First Italo-Ethiopian War and World War I. He participated in the Italian colonial campaign in the Horn of Africa which lead to his participation at the Battle of Adwa, where he was wounded and taken prisoner by the Abyssinians. Having become Lieutenant General, at the action of the general mobilization of 1915 he was appointed commander of the 4th Army but was dismissed from the command four months after Italy entered the war.
