claudio2574

Thank you for your interest. According to the book of Scarpa-Sézanne, there are 6 variants of the medal: - basic: no words - 1: "G.Orsolini mod." on the obverse - 2: "G.Orsolini mod." / "S.Johnson-Milano" on the obverse, "G.Villa inc." on the reverse - 3: "G.Orsolini mod." / "F.M.Lorioli & Castelli-Milano" on the obverse - 4: "G.Orsolini mod." / "Sacchini-Milano" on the obverse, "G.Villa inc." on the reverse - 5: no words, On the obverse the years are MCMXV - MCMXVIII Unfortunately I do not have the variant 5, so I cannot post its image. In my collection there are the variants 1 to 4 only. May be it is interesting that two more medals exists. They were proposed, but not accepted, so they are really scarce. No photos of this variant, the drawing comes from the book of Scarpa-Sézanne: The last variant was sold on ebay some years ago for some 300 euros. Here is its picture. For me it is the most beautiful.

If you take a look to the first page of this topic, you can find the images of both Italian Interallied medal diplomas, the one for the Army and the second for the Navy. Both have the "signature" of the Ministers - actually both are stamps. The commemorative medal diploma has the years 1915-1918 (24th May 1915 was the declaration of war from Italy to Austria, 4th Nov 1918 was the surrending of Austria). The clasps were 1915,1916,1917,1918 and, unofficially, 1919 and 1920 (Albania). The Interallied medal and diploma have the years 1914-1918, but there is one variant of the medal with the years 1915-1918.

Noor, after some search thru the holy books, I've found some answers. The badge was created on May, 27th 1937 by the Ministry of War. It was given to: a) the components of the High Command in A.O. (Africa Orientale = East Africa) b) the components of the General Gariboldi's track unit (division "Sabauda": 45-46° inf - 3° Bers - 16 art .) c) the components of the General Gallina's inf. unit (1st division "Eritrea", 1st mixed brigade) d) the components of the General De Meo's inf. unit (can't' which unit was this) e) the Aviation people who gave support of any kind to the previous units. The total number of soldiers is about 10000 Italians and 10000 Eritreans; these numbers come from the report of Gen. Badoglio (http://www.regioesercito.it/campagne/etiopia/avvmil11.htm) There are at least 4 variants of the badge, with no mark, with the mark of Alberti & C. Milano, Johnson and Corinaldi e Rizzi Milano. The latter is your and is the most expensive (about 150 euros), the others could be 100-120. About your last link: the badge is no longer included in the official badges of the Italian Army, as you can see in the official page http://www.esercito.difesa.it/Equipaggiamenti/Militaria/Distintivi/IDistintivi/DistintiviRicordo/Pagine/default.aspx Hope this can help Claudio

The colonial order of the Italy Star is quite easier to find than the Military order of Savoy. Here is my one, knight: ... and its diploma:

Well, now I can post some infos. The 36th rgt artiglieria di campagna was created in 1912 and fought in the war against Turkey. At the time of WW1 it was composed of 3 groups (13°, 14°, 20°) plus another one which at the beginning had the number 11 and later 51, as all the "someggiati" groups (=with guns trained by mules), which added 40 to their initial number. The regiment was under the 2nd army, XII army corp, 24th division. In 1920 its number was changed, becoming the 24° rgt. The picture shows a soldier (not an officer) with the Italy-Turkey ribbon. The neck pipes were the same as for all artillery regiments: black with yellow border and the star in the middle. You can see them here: Pls note that the color was yellow at the time of the war. The change to orange is due to the time. The sword is not appropriate, since the artillery soldier had the model 1888. Anyway picture like this one were made usually in photo studios were details like this were not relevant. The picture can be dated between 1912 and early 1916, because the ribbon for ww1 was created on 21th may 1916 and we don't see it. Here is a card of the 36th rgt, made after the end of the Turkey campaign, when the regiment was in Sicily. I wish to thanks the MILES forum (http://miles.forumcommunity.net) and specially "furiere maggiore"

Hi. May I ask you to post some details of the hat, the neck and the ribbon?

I'm one. But I can't give you answers because it's the first time I see this badge. Do you want I post your question in an Italian forum?

A bit off topic, but I find it interesting. One note from the book "La marine francaise" (Alain Boulaire), page 234. Jean-Francois Deniau raconte, dans "Ce que je crois" que le chef d'état-major de la Marine lui avait demandé de chercher pourquoi , malgré les bonnes relations diplomatiques, la Chine refusait systématiquement la venue de la "Jeann d'Arc" lors de son tour du monde: "Un soir où je prolonge le diner avec Deng Xiaoping, je lui demande: - Et porquoi ne voulez-vous pas recevoir la "Jeanne d'Arc", notre navire-école, symbole de notre marine nationale et notre meilleur ambassadeur? Deng Xiaoping allume une cigarette de plus, lance le fumée vers le plafond et me dit: - On n'apprend plus l'histoire en France? - Je crains qu'on n'apprenne plus grand-chose. Cela s'appelle la réforme de l'enseignement. Tirant sur la cigarette, Deng Xiaoping continue: - La guerre des Boxers, cela ne vous dit plus rien? Et l'expédition punitive d'une armée regroupant tous les pays occidentaux, commandée d'ailleurs par un gènèral allemand? Une canonnière a bombardé... Vous voulez le nom de cette canonniére? Je comprends avant qu'il n'ait terminé sa phrase. La canonniére s'appelait "Jeanne d'Arc". C'est moi qui enchaine: - Le premier bateau francais à venir en Chine pourrait etre le "Duguay-Trouin" ou le... - Celui que vous voulez, dit Deng Xiaoping. Toute votre marine ne s'appelle quand même pas "Jeanne d'Arc". Elle viendra ensuite." After more than 100 years the Chinese still remember...

Neither that name nor his ship are in the list of the merit medal. Unfortunately I've no infos about the commemorative medal.

The Vasco de Gama cruiser and his captain Dom Josè D'Almeida got the silver merit medal

I can answer for the merit medal only. Bavaria : 4 silver medals, 14 mentions Germany : 4 gold medals (the Emperor, his wife, the Navy and the city of Berlin), 12 silver medals, 14 bronze medals, 13 mentions. The PDF document gives the names. Hope I did not make mistakes.

Don't know this one. Anyway the cross for war merit should be missing: Volunteer for Spain campaign and three years of 40-43 war.

This one is post-1945. Pls see the last ribbon, which is for liberation campaign.

If you deal with official ribbons, they are all of the same type and size (but one). For unofficial medals/ribbons they can be somehow different. In the period 1940-43 only a few official medals were created (cross for military barvery 1941, cross for military bravery 1942, cross for military bravery 1943, volunteers for Spanish campaign 1940, Unification of Italy 1940, Albanian campaign 1940, Spanish campaign 1940, aeronautics pioneers 1941, long service in PAI 1941, military bravery for firefighters 1942, long service for firfighters 1942, order of the roman eagle 1942, Africa campaign 1943, WW2 1941). Of course the many-many other medals/ribbons created in the previous years were still in use. If you specify which ones you are interested the most, I can try to take some pictures.

Yes, he's a well known seller. He's the writer of the only catalog with prices for Italian medals and got some criticism for this. However the items he sells are ok. Bye! Claudio

hello again and thanks. Your Africa medal looks good. However, please take into consideration that in the near past a big amount of fakes were set out and that to confirm its originality a direct comparison with other medals is the only way. The MVSN medal is really interesting and good - no doubt. The Russia cross has a strange backside. It should be flat, I see many bubbles which are suspect. This medal also has been widely remade, usually by melting, and this kind of bubbles could be the result of a melting. The Medals for bravery were officially given to the recipient coming from the Royal mint. Here you can see one of it, with the crowned "Z" and F G in the lower part: However almost all people usually weared unofficial copies without the Z mark, like this: Bye and read you soon

That's a pity. Whatever the ideas were, the traces of the story should be manteined... Anyway, whenever possible I'm waiting to see more detailed pictures of the other medals, if you agree.

Ok, I see. Do you have his diploma?

Hello, it's interesting to see that Italian medals are of some interest abroad. First picture. The cross of St.Mauricius and Lazarus looks very fine. The cross of Italy crown seems a late one, with some harm to the Savoy nodes; it has a Spanish suspension. Could you send a bigger picture of the valour medal? It seems to me that it is not a mint one (should have the "Z" in the bottom). The others of the first picture look good. About the second picture: I've never seen the volunteer medal for AOI you have. For sure it's my fault, but the one I know has the "Morbiducci" mark on the bottom, like this: Could you post the back view for the Russia cross and the MVSN round medal, please? About the third picture: th first cross is very interesting. This is my one, on replacement ribbon: Some doubt about the Africa medal, there are so many fakes around! On the other side there should be the mark Lorioli-Milano and De Marchis: There are several variants for the 11th army cross. The "official" (really unofficial, bu the very first) is the Mori variant: About the military order of Savoy: not easy to find. Be prepared to pay more than you do for your best sample! Bye

Another plate, from the Netherlands, 1843. Here also the cross is flat. The orders of "Santissima Annunziata" and "Militare di Savoia" are drawn too.

The project deals with the Official Gazette. No relationship with the people, just the fact that the names are within the documents. They scan the pages (more than 600.000) in TIFF and PDF formats and gave the PDF pages to an OCR software, so that some kind of researches about names can be done simply on the web. There are of course several mistakes in the OCR, but anyway it works.

No book is needed. The project AuGUSto (Automation of Historical Official Gazette) makes the Gazettes available on the web: http://augusto.digitpa.gov.it/gazzette/index 1860 ("Mille" Expedition) to 1946 (born of Italian Republic) is the time covered by this project.

SJ could be Stefano Johnson, a well known firm in Milan

yes, which mark is over it?

Thank you all. Marchiafava got the Captain rank in January 1913. He was in the King guard until Oct 2011 (not January as I wrote before) Thru another forum, I got the list of the other Italian recipients of the Order in 1911: Riddare av Kungl. Svärdsorden, 2:a kl. Bongiovanni, Luigi, Italiensk Öv.löjtn., 11. Calenda, Carlo, Italiensk överste, 11. Cellario, Giorgio, Italiensk Major, 11. Galante, Carlo, Italiensk Ryttm., 11. Miglietti, Giulio Merli, Italiensk överste, 11. Modignani. Vittorio Litta, Italiensk överste, 11. Scarampi del Cairo, Maurizio, Italiensk Ryttm., 11. Simonetti, Giovanni, Italiensk Löjtn., 11. Tartaglia, Ferdinando, Italiensk Ryttm., 11. Vegzi di Castelletto, Giuseppe, Italiensk Ryttm., 11. Riddare av Kungl. Svärdsorden Berti, Georgio, Italiensk Kapten, 11. Camicia, Francesco, Italiensk Major, 11. Camicia, Francesco, Italiensk Gen.löjtn. 11. Cittadini, Arturo, Italiensk Gen.löjtn., 11. Cittadini, Arturo, Italiensk Major, 11. Lang, Giovanni, Italiensk Major, 11 Leoncavallo, Oreste, Italiensk Kapten, 11. Lippi, Carlo, Italiensk Kapten, 11. Pucci, Gandolfo, Italiensk Kapten, 11. Romagnoli, Pietro, Italiensk Kapten, 11. Veggi di Castelletto, Giuseppe, Italiensk Löjtn., 11. Kommendörer m. st. k. av Kungl. Svärdsorden. Kommendörer med stora korset, utom Herrar Serafimerriddare. Utländska Brusati, Ugo, Italiensk Gen.löjtn., 11. Cadorna, Luigi, Greve, Italiensk Gen.löjtn., 11. [Luigi Cadorna was the Commander in chief of Italian Army during WW1 until the defeat of Caporetto, 1917] Riddare av andra klassen. Utländska. Barattieri, Massimiliano, Italiensk Löjtn., 11. Bardin, Eugenio, Italiensk Löjtn., 11. Cellario, Giorgio, Italiensk Löjtn., 11. Kommendörer av Kungl. Svärdsorden, 2:a kl. Calenda, Carlo, Italiensk överste, 11. Thaon de Revel, Paolo, Hertig, Italiensk Marinminister, 11. Trombi Vittorio, Greve, Italiensk Gen.major, 11. Kommendörer ni. st. k. av Kungl. Svärdsorden. Spingardi, Paolo, Italiensk Gen.löjtn., 11. Also from the same forum I got a picture of the Swedish King during the visit to Italy: Thru the website of the newspaper "La Stampa" (http://www.lastampa.it/ , days 26 and 27/4/1911) the report of the visit is available. Right in this page, it is written that during his visit to the Institute of Agricolture the King Gustav gave the Order of Polar Star to its director, marquis Cappelli. "The baron De Bildt, minister of Sweden in Rome, give hime immediately the coat of arms". One note about the Italian military archives: the AUSSME (Archivio Ufficio Storico Stato Maggiore dell'Esercito) is in Rome, and I live close to Rome. I know it well because I searched for the places and the battalion were my father was in service during WW2. The lists of soldiers awarded with medals, however, is not there. Another office (in Rome too) hold them. I've already planned a visit over there in the next months, so I will look for Marchiafava too.