Italian Army
The Italian Army (Italian: Esercito Italiano [EI]) 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.
Italian Army
27 March 1861
(163 years)
Italy
97,755 (2018)[1]
Rome
Latin: Salus Rei Publicae Suprema Lex Esto
"The safeguard of the republic shall be the supreme law"
4 Maggio (May 4) by Fulvio Creux
4 November, National Unity and Armed Forces Day
4 May, Army Day
3 Cavalier Crosses of the Military Order of Italy
1 Gold Medal of Military Valor
2 Gold Medals of Civil Valor
1 Silver Medal of Civil Valor
1 Silver Medal of Civil Merit
Generale di Corpo d'Armata
Carmine Masiello
Operations[edit]
The Italian Army has participated in operations to aid populations hit by natural disasters. It has, moreover, supplied a remarkable contribution to the forces of police for the control of the territory of the province of Bolzano/Bozen (1967), in Sardinia ("Forza Paris" 1992), in Sicily ("Vespri Siciliani"1992) and in Calabria (1994). Currently, it protects sensitive objectives and places throughout the national territory ("Operazione Domino") since the September 11 attacks in the United States.
The army is also engaged in Missions abroad under the aegis of the UN, the NATO, and of Multinational forces, such as Beirut in Lebanon (1982), Namibia (1989), Albania (1991), Kurdistan (1991), Somalia (1992), Mozambique (1993), Bosnia (1995), East Timor and Kosovo (both in 1999), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2001), Darfur (2003), Afghanistan (2002), Iraq (2003) and Lebanon again (2006). (From 1980, Italy was the third major world contributor, after USA and the UK, in peacekeeping missions.)
The Carabinieri, once the senior corps of the Army, is now an autonomous armed force (alongside the Army, Navy and Air Force). The Carabinieri provide military police services to all the Italian armed forces.
All brigades have been deployed and are continuously deployed in operations outside of Italy. Combat brigades field between 3–5,000 troops each. Brigade maneuver units are designated as regiments but field men and equipment similar to large battalions, consisting of large Command and Logistic Support Company and a combat battalion. Artillery regiments field an additional Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Tactical Liaison Battery.
Every complete Italian Army brigade fields the following units:
Depending on the type of brigade (light, medium, heavy) each brigade fields three maneuver battalions. Currently, the Folgore, Taurinense, and Julia each field three light infantry regiments, the Pinerolo and Aosta each field three medium infantry regiments, and the Garibaldi and Ariete field two, respectively one heavy infantry regiment, and one, respectively two tank regiments. The Friuli, Sassari, Granatieri di Sardegna and Pozzuolo del Friuli brigades' regiments are structured like all other army regiments. However, these four brigades do not field the full complement of eight units.
Currently the army's maneuver regiments are organized as follows:
Two of the three infantry regiments of the Sassari brigade are still equipped as light regiments, while the brigade's 3rd Bersaglieri Regiment has begun the switch to medium infantry regiment on 6 January 2018. The 2nd Regiment "Granatieri di Sardegna" was reactivated on 1 September 2022 as a light infantry regiment and will switch to heavy regiment once new tracked infantry fighting vehicles will be acquired by the army.
