Italian Talent in World War II

It is a major injustice that the Royal Italian Armed Forces, particularly during World War II, are so often belittled despite their numerous victories and astounding accomplishments. Particularly in areas of technological innovation, Italian forces set many records in the air and at sea. It is often forgotten that it was the Italian military that was the first to use aircraft in combat, the first to develop the theory of strategic air warfare, the first to use tanks in desert combat, the first to make widespread use of armored vehicles and the first to achieve major success through the use of naval special forces. Of course, the Italian armed forces were hampered in many ways during the Second World War, they lacked a sufficient industrial support base, they were unprepared and often had to make do with substandard equipment. Nonetheless, many Italian soldiers, sailors and airmen displayed excellence on numerous occasions.

At sea probably no other commander of a fighting ship was so famous as Lieutenant Commander Gianfranco Gazzana Priaroggia who commanded numerous submarines, mostly in the North Atlantic but none so famous as the Leonardo da Vinci. He was from a noble family from Milan but moved to Genoa as a boy during the First World War and later joined the Regia Marina. He won numerous decorations during the battle of the Atlantic, winning the respect of friend and foe alike before he was killed in action in 1943. During his service he sank 10 Allied ships for a total of 90,000 tons, surpassing the records of most Allied submarine commanders. He and his last submarine were among the most successful outside of Germany in all of World War II. He won the Gold Medal of Military Valor from Italy and the Knights Iron Cross from Germany for his many successes.

In the air, probably the greatest was Major Adriano Visconti di Lampugnano who earned four silver and two bronze Medals of Military Valor. He was born in Tripoli (when Libya was part of the Italian colonial empire obviously) and joined the Regia Aeronautica (Royal Air Force) in 1936. During World War II he shot down some 26 Allied aircraft. There are some conflicting claims but he was probably the highest scoring Italian air ace of World War II. He won victories over North Africa, Malta, the Mediterranean and Italy itself during the chaotic period after 1943. He was never defeated in the air, surviving the war only to be murdered in 1945 by Russian communists serving with the partisans who he had surrendered to afterwards. To put this in perspective, only seven pilots of the vastly larger U.S. air forces had a higher score than Visconti. It should also be kept in mind that the US and UK air forces generally had much better aircraft than Italy had to work with.

In the area of land warfare, again, Italy was at a severe disadvantage yet still produced a number of great military commanders. One of these was Prince Amedeo Duke of Aosta who was the Governor-General of Italian East Africa when the war broke out. He was cut off from Italy, totally surrounded by enemy territory and yet he showed great skill, daring and leadership from the outset. Italian colonial forces under his command penetrated deep into the Sudan and Kenya before going on to conquer British Somaliland and Djibouti with no additional help from Italy or support from any other power. Being cut off, there was never much doubt that Italian East Africa would eventually fall and so it did in the face of a massive Allied counter-attack with French, Belgian, Indian and numerous other British colonial forces. However, Prince Amedeo conducted a brilliant defensive campaign before being overwhelmed. His skill and gallantry won the admiration of even his British enemies just as he had already earned the loyalty of the native population. Unfortunately, he died in a British POW camp before the war was over.

Another extremely effective Italian commander was Marshal Giovanni Messe who commanded the Italian army on the Russian front. Previously he had shown great promise in the conquest of Libya during the war with Turkey and helped develop the elite assault troops (Arditi) of the Italian army in World War I. He served with distinction in Ethiopia and Albania and defeated several counter-attacks during the invasion of Greece. After being posted to the Russian front, he won several victories over the Soviet forces, earning further promotion and decorations from both the Italian and German high commands. He was transferred only after clashing with Mussolini over the contribution Italy could adequately maintain (Messe ultimately being proven correct). After that he was posted to Tunisia which was a dire situation that even the famous German Marshal Rommel had already given up as hopeless. That was true, nonetheless, Messe won a number of victories in delaying actions, commanding both Italian and German troops before the war on the North African front was ended. After the 1943 armistice Marshal Messe, a loyal monarchist, commanded Italian forces in the co-belligerent army alongside the Allies until the end of the war.

The list could go on but I think the basic point is clear. Obviously, anything involving the Second World War is going to be controversial but the bravery and talent of the Royal Italian armed forces, who had nothing to do with politics and who were not responsible for the war or their involvement in it, should not be disregarded or belittled. Given the odds against them and the handicaps they suffered the Italian forces performed heroically on land, at sea and in the air throughout the conflict. They were also upright soldiers as illustrated in the close cooperation of Italian and African troops in the colonial army in East Africa, the Russian volunteers who joined their ranks to escape Soviet oppression or the gallant defense of the Greek island of Cephalonia after the armistice when the Germans moved in to occupy the place. They put politics aside and gave their lives to defend the innocent local people, regardless of the odds against them. Their skill and their courage deserve to be remembered.

King Carlo Alberto and Monaco

King Carlo Alberto

It was during the reign of HSH Prince Florestan, aided by his ever-diligent wife Princess Caroline, that the crisis over Menton and Roquebrune reached its height. The one royal figure on the other side of that crisis was HM King Carlo Alberto of Piedmont-Sardinia, head of the House of Savoy which held a partial protectorate over the Principality of Monaco since the Napoleonic Wars, including Menton and Roquebrune. When liberal outbursts began to sweep Europe, and the southern areas particularly, some royals tried to suppress the spread of such sentiments while others tried to get out in front of them. King Carlo Alberto tried to get out in front, perhaps belatedly, but quite successfully. It was a course of action that put him on a path to conflict with the Prince of Monaco. However, King Carlo Alberto was not quite the scheming man of ambition many of his enemies make him out to be. At the outset he was simply following the example seemingly being set by other monarchs and even the Holy Father in Rome. The difference was, having set out, he refused to change course. The two driving forces behind this movement were constitutional government and nationalism. This is the background.

Prince Florestan of Monaco

In 1846 His Holiness Pope Pius IX was elected to the Throne of St Peter and came with a reputation for being something of a liberal, a man known for the demands he had made for governments to care for their people and for his recognition of the people of the Italian peninsula as one nation. Naturally, liberals rejoiced when he was elected and further thrilled when he released from the prisons in Rome all of those jailed for sedition or revolution or any sort of what we would call political prisoners. He appointed progressives to positions of leadership and began the unheard of process of introducing constitutional government in the Papal States with a leadership made up entirely of laymen. King Carlo Alberto followed the example of the Pope and soon in the Principality of Monaco, particularly Menton, there were cheers for Pope Pius IX and King Carlo Alberto by those hoping for the same innovations to be handed down from their Prince. However, the Pope who was so celebrated by liberals and even Protestant governments eventually became horrified by the effects of his progressive changes and ultimately became known as one of the most ardently conservative or even reactionary of pontiffs.

King Carlo Alberto, on the other hand, did not change course. His convictions may have even been strengthened by the sight of the Pope being forced to flee Rome in disguise and then brought back only by the intervention of the French army. The King of Piedmont-Sardinia would stay on the more liberal track and came to be hailed by Italian nationalists as the one monarch who never betrayed them. This meant clashes with other crowned heads, most significantly the Austrian Hapsburgs rather than the relatively powerless Prince of Monaco but it would also mean that, in the end, the House of Savoy would become the Royal Family of the unified Kingdom of Italy in the not too distant future. So, King Carlo Alberto enacted many liberal changes, including constitutional government, a system which hearkened back to the Code Napoleon but which also modeled itself somewhat on the constitutional monarchy of Great Britain which seemed to work quite well. New rights and liberties were granted and troublesome elements in Menton seized on this to demand the same in the Principality of Monaco. Many residents, even in Monaco itself as late as the 1940’s, continued to think of themselves as Italians in ethnic terms and the nationalist drive toward creating an Italian nation-state had its supporters in the Principality of Monaco.

This put Prince Florestan in a terrible position. He was no reactionary himself and, indeed, Monaco would eventually put all the demanded changes into effect, but he did not want to see his country divided or taken over by a foreign power. The problem was that the power he most feared, Piedmont-Sardinia, was the only one he was supposed to appeal to for help. Charles Trenca, a leading liberal, was an early flashpoint. He had served the House of Grimaldi since 1819 and in 1841 he had been sent on a diplomatic mission to Turin along with the Duke of Valentinois (future Prince Charles III) and King Carlo Alberto had been impressed with him. On a subsequent mission the King chose him to act as go-between with the court in Monaco on the subject of annexing Monaco to Piedmont-Sardinia. Needless to say, Prince Florestan and Princess Caroline were less than impressed with this suggestion and Trenca was eventually dismissed for his plotting on behalf of Turin.

King Carlo Alberto had showed his hand and his desire to include Monaco or at the least Menton and Roquebrune in his kingdom was now known. However, the agitation in those areas only increased even after reforms were made and Prince Florestan had no choice but to appeal to the King for Piedmontese troops to restore order. When soldiers were dispatched under General Claudio Gonnet to Menton they were met by a crowd of citizens carrying a large bust of their own beloved King Carlo Alberto. They could not bring themselves to shoot down a mob cheering their own monarch and when the crowd approached, carrying the bust before them, they simply saluted the image of their King and allowed them to pass at which point the crowd burst into cheers. General Gonnet declared that there was no trouble in Menton and marched his troops on to Monaco to report as much to the Prince. This did not go over well at the palace and they assumed, probably correctly, that General Gonnet was on the side of the protestors in wishing for annexation.


When the Revolutions of 1848 swept Europe, Menton and Roquebrune declared their secession from Monaco as “Free Cities” when similar uprisings were breaking out across Italy. Within two years they would be formally placed under the protection of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia. However, King Carlo Alberto would not live to see that. Following his defeat at the hands of the Austrians in the First Italian War for Independence, he abdicated in favor of his son, Vittorio Emanuele II, in 1849 and died later that same year. Piedmont-Sardinia would not hold the former Monegasque towns for long though. As we know, in 1860, as part of a treaty to gain French support for the unification of Italy by the House of Savoy, the County of Nice, with Menton and Roquebrune included, were ceded to the Second French Empire after a referendum, disputed by some as being less than honest. Nonetheless, aside from a brief period during World War II, Menton and Roquebrune have remained a part of France ever since then.

Carabinieri Reali

The Italian Royal Guard was formed from the famous Carabinieri Reali, the national, paramilitary police force of Italy, instantly recognizable by their lucerna tricorn hats, which they still wear to this day, though today only for ceremonial duties. The history of the Carabinieri can be traced back to King Victor Emmanuel I of Piedmont-Sardinia in 1814. Within this organization was the Carabinieri Guardie which was an elite corps of royal body guards who stood watch at the royal residence in Rome and which protected the King on his travels. Like most royal guard units they also served as an active military unit in the major conflicts undertaken by the Kingdom of Italy. In World War I, for example, a unit was sent to augment the British forces fighting in Palestine. In 1868 the Corazzieri or Cuirassiers’ Regiment was formed to provide a mounted escort for the King, first of Sardinia, later of Italy, and the first group was chosen from the Carabinieri to form a mounted escort on the occasion of the marriage of the future King Umberto I to Princess Margherita of Savoy. They would also protect the King while on military campaigns and were recognized as the official royal guard in 1870 as the Carabinieri Guardie del Re. The unit was reestablished in 1946 after the abolition of the monarchy, given a quick change of certain symbols and entrusted with the protection of the President of the Italian Republic. Members of these forces can still be seen, their appearance largely unchanged since the time of the monarchy, providing escorts and carrying out guard duty at the Quirinal Palace. Today they are part of the Italian military.

Today the Carabinieri and the Curassiers wear basically the same uniform they did in the time of the monarchy, only with the symbols of the House of Savoy replaced with republican insignia.

Italian Tea Party

Who knew the Italians had started their own "Tea Party" movement? I certainly didn't but, even though I think Italy should look to the example of her own history rather than that of other countries, in the fiscal context I think it's good to see. Don't think I didn't notice that Confederate ensign down there on the table either. From the photos they have posted, the Italian Tea Party doesn't look like a very large group (which is to be expected) but it does look to be a very active and motivated group and that often counts for much more than numbers. The "Tea Party Italia" page on Facebook has 5,257 members as of this writing and they have their own web presence and a flickr photos page. It seems that have had a number of meetings, some public events and the like, all aimed at promoting the "Tea Party" principles in Italy.

I would not have favored the original American Tea Party but in this day and age I am pretty much behind their calls for fiscal responsibility, less government spending, lower taxes, more accountability and government that is smaller and more efficient rather than an all-expansive state trying to care for everyone from cradle to grave. I have no doubt that the financial ruin Italy currently finds herself in is due to the decades of big-government, socialism and state-run economies. I would prefer that their tricolore have a Savoy coat of arms in the middle but there is no bar against monarchists agreeing with the economic policies of the Tea Party. There are even monarchist libertarians in a number of countries that I know of. More economic freedom and personal responsibility seems to me to be something Italy would do well to try. The country has gone so far for so long in the opposite direction that a dramatic shift would probably do some good. It might also help the cause of national unity.

I'm sure not everyone would agree with that but if the areas of the south could no longer benefit from the prosperity of the north, everyone being responsible for their own welfare, it might make the north less restive and force the south to develop and adopt some policies that have brought prosperity to others but which they have been able to shrug off. And any group that puts the flag of Texas side-by-side with the Italian colors automatically looks good to me. For all the Italian libertarians out there I would remind you of just a few facts. It was King Vittorio Emanuele III who said that the Italian people were individualists and a republic would never serve them well (I think that has been proven true). Also, if the idea of private ownership is superior to public ownership (which I agree with), why should that principle not extend to the head of state as well? The libertarian principles argue for a monarchy since a King who will be passing the crown to his son has a vested interest in the success of the nation, he will take better care of it because it is "his" crown and his country rather than just some temporary office he holds on behalf of others (such as political parties and big business money lenders). So, think about that, slap a cross and crown on those flags and I will be proud to be with you all the way. W il Re! W Italia!

The Iron Crown of Lombardy

It may not look like much compared to some others, but the Iron Crown of Lombardy is one of the most significant symbols of monarchy in western Christendom. It is called the “Iron Crown” because of a small, narrow strip of iron that circles the interior of the piece. What is significant about this is that, according to tradition, this circle of iron was beaten out from one of the nails used at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. That is where the story of the Iron Crown begins. As with most of the relics association with Christ and the crucifixion the nail was said to have been found by St Helena and given to her son the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great (the first Roman Emperor to be a Christian) who, so the story goes, later sent it to the Queen of the Lombards who were converted to Christianity. At some point the nail was incorporated into a crown though no one is sure exactly when. Some say Emperor Charlemagne was crowned King of the Lombards using the Iron Crown while others maintained it was not made until after his time. Kept in the Cathedral of Monza, near Milan, it was the most sacred and well known symbol of the Kingdom of the Lombards which grew up following the fall of Rome.

When the Holy Roman Empire was created the Kings of Germany would go to Rome to be crowned “Emperor of the Romans” by the Pope. On the way they would usually stop in Monza to be crowned “King of Italy” with the Iron Crown of Lombardy. Such famous historical monarchs as Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and Emperor Charles V were crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy. In 1805 Napoleon Bonaparte had himself crowned “King of Italy” with the Iron Crown of Lombardy, a title he placed second in importance only to that of “Emperor of the French”. Later he also founded the Order of the Iron Crown as the premier chivalric order of his new Italian realm. That order would be maintained even by the enemies of Napoleon. In the course of the Napoleonic Wars the area of Lombardy was annexed by the Empire of Austria and Emperor Francis I revived Napoleon’s Order of the Iron Crown as his own. The Emperor also took possession of the actual Iron Crown itself though he made no use of it. The last time it was to be used for a coronation would be in 1838.

Ferdinand I became Emperor of Austria in 1835. Prior to that time he had already been crowned King of Hungary in 1830. In 1838 he had his coronation, using the Iron Crown of Lombardy as King of Lombardy-Venetia, at that time a part of the Austrian Empire. Incidentally, he was also married to Maria Anna of Savoy, daughter of King Vittorio Emanuele I of Piedmont-Sardinia, giving him a further Italian connection. Ferdinand would also be the last monarch to be crowned King of Bohemia though his successors on the Hapsburg throne continued to use the title. When Ferdinand abdicated as Emperor of Austria the throne of Lombardy-Venetia along with the rest passed to his nephew Francis Joseph I. There was never another coronation with the Iron Crown and Francis Joseph appointed his brother, Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, Viceroy of Lombardy-Venetia. He would be the last to hold that position.

The Iron Crown was featured on the Savoy arms

In the Second War of Italian Independence control of Lombardy passed to King Vittorio Emanuele II of Piedmont-Sardinia who, in 1861, became the first King of Italy. Before surrendering Lombardy the Austrians removed the Iron Crown from Milan and took it to Vienna, however, no one was to forget this ancient and sacred symbol of Italian kingship. In 1866 Austria was defeated in the Third Italian War of Independence (a parallel of the Austro-Prussian or Seven Weeks War) in which Venetia was ceded to the Kingdom of Italy. Also included in the peace stipulations was the return of the Iron Crown of Lombardy which was duly handed over to the House of Savoy and returned to its traditional resting place in Milan. The Savoy monarchs never had a coronation but the Iron Crown was used as a symbol, being carried in the funeral cortege of King Vittorio Emanuele II of Italy, probably to highlight his role in evicting the Austrians from northern Italy and uniting the country. The Iron Crown of Lombardy still rests in the Duomo of Monza in the outskirts of Milan (also known as the Basilica of St John the Baptist) along with a collection of historic Christian art and artifacts. The Crown, however, is by far the most famous of the pieces on display there.

The Birth of Imperial Rome

It was on this day in 27 BC that Octavian Julius Caesar was officially voted the title of "Augustus" ('the Exalted') by the Senate and People of Rome. Thus today marks the 2039th birthday of the Roman Empire, the mother civilization of modern Europe and the western world.

Monarchist Quote

"A republican form of government is not suited to the Italian people. They are not prepared for it either tempermentally or historically. In a republic, every Italian would insist upon being president, and the result would be chaos. The only people who would profit would be the communists."
-HM King Vittorio Emanuele III