The Alpini, (English: the Alpines), are the elite mountain warfare soldiers of the Italian Army. They are currently organized in two operational brigades, which are subordinated to the Alpini Corps Command. The singular is Alpino (Alpine).

Formed in 1872, they are the oldest active mountain infantry in the world. Their original mission was to protect Italy's northern mountain border with France and Austria. In 1888 the Alpini were sent to their first mission abroad, in Africa, a continent to which they continued to return for various wars of the Kingdom of Italy. They distinguished themselves during World War I when they fought a three year long campaign in the Alps against Austro-Hungarian Kaiserjäger and the German Alpenkorps in what has since become known as the "War in snow and ice". During World War II, the Alpini fought alongside Axis forces principally on the Eastern Front and in the Balkans Campaigns.

Due to the reorganization of the Italian Army after the end of the Cold War in the 1990s, three of five Alpini brigades and many support units were disbanded. Currently, the Alpini are permanently engaged in Afghanistan.

History[link]

1872 to 1887[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2012)

Hard cap insignia of Alpini.

A Cappello Alpino of an Alpino engineer: with raven feather, amaranth Nappina, and the heraldic symbol of the 2° Engineer Regiment.

A pair of Fiamme Verdi collar patches

Life size image of a Nappina

In 1872, Captain Giuseppe Perrucchetti published a study in the May edition of the journal, Rivista Militare ("Military Review"). In the study he proposed to entrust the defense of the mountain borders of the young Kingdom of Italy to soldiers recruited from these areas, who through their knowledge of the terrain and their connection to the area would be capable and highly motivated to defend it successfully. Perrucchetti drew heavily on the work of Lieutenant General Agostino Ricci, who in 1868 had begun to conduct exercises in the mountains to study the feasibility of a special mountain infantry corps. Five months after Perrucchetti's publications the first 15 Alpini companies were formed by Royal decree nr. 1056. The units became active on October 15, 1872, making the Alpini the oldest active Mountain Infantry in the world.

At first the Alpini were organized as a militia, capable of defending Italy’s northern mountainous borders. Austria's surrender in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 resulted in Italy annexing the province of Venetia, the northern borders of which coincided in large part with the Alpine Arch. Prior to gaining the new northern borders, homeland defense was based on the so-called Quadrilatero strategy. That outdated strategy, however, ignored the geopolitics of the new Italian kingdom - it called for primary defense of the Po Valley region ("Pianura Padana") farther to the southwest, but left the Alpine region undefended (mainly considered a territory unsuitable for military operations).

It was an innovative idea to recruit inhabitants of Italy's mountain valleys - with their superior knowledge of mountain territories and adaptability to Alpine conditions - and then forming them into a special corps. Initially, the mountain regions were divided into seven military districts, each commanded by an officer and home to at least two Alpini companies. At first, each company consisted of 120 men. Soldiers were equipped with the Vetterli 1870 rifle. In 1873 nine additional companies were raised bringing the total to 24 companies. In 1875 the companies doubled in size and were now composed of 250 soldiers and 5 officers, which were then formed into 7 Alpini battalions. Each battalion was named after one of the seats of the seven military districts:

1° Cuneo, 2° Mondovi, 3° Torino (Susa), 4° Torino (Chivasso), 5° Como, 6° Treviso, 7° Udine

In 1877, five Alpini mountain artillery batteries were formed and, in the following year, the Alpini had already grown to 36 companies of mountain infantry organized into 10 battalions. On November 1, 1882, the Alpini doubled in size to now 72 companies in 20 Alpini battalions. The 20 battalions and 8 Alpini mountain artillery batteries were now organized into six numbered Alpini regiments and two Alpini mountain artillery brigades. Each battalions was named after the area it was tasked to defend in case of war:

Regiment	Garrison/HQ	1st Btn.	2nd Btn.	3rd Btn.	4th Btn.
1st Alpini	Mondovì	Alto Tanaro	Val Tanaro	Val Camonica
2nd Alpini	Bra	Val Pesio	Col Tenda	Val Schio
3rd Alpini	Fossano	Val Stura	Val Maira	Monti Lessini
4th Alpini	Torino	Val Pellice	Val Chisone	Val Brenta
5th Alpini	Milan	Val Dora	Moncenisio	Valtellina	Alta Valtellina
6th Alpini	Conegliano	Val d'Orco	Val d'Aosta	Cadore	Val Tagliamento

The numbers used earlier to distinguish the battalions were dropped while at the same time the companies were now numbered from 1 to 72. To distinguish the battalions, soldiers and non commissioned officers were issued thread tufts of various colors (called Nappina), which were added to the Cappello Alpino: white for the first, red for the second and green for the third battalion of each regiment. Special and 4th battalions were issued blue tufts. Soldiers of the Mountain Artillery units were issued a green tuft with a black patch in the middle onto which the number of the battery was written in golden numbers.

On June 7, 1883, the "fiamme verdi" (green flames) collar patch was introduced thus making the Alpini officially a specialty within the Italian infantry corps. The Cappello Alpino, with its black raven feather, was also introduced. The distinctive headdress quickly led the Alpinis to be nicknamed "Le Penne Nere" ("Black feathers"). Officers hats replaced the black feather with a white eagle feather. At first the hat was a black felt hat, but with the introduction of the new green-grey uniform in 1910 the hat was changed to the distinctive grey felt hat that is still retained today.

The Alpini were also distinguished by green cuffs on their dark blue tunics and green piping on their light blue/grey trousers. When grey-green service uniforms were introduced for the Alpini in 1906 the distinctive green collar patches and Alpine headdress were retained.

The material, weapons, and equipment of each battalion were stored in the major village of a specific area they were tasked to defend in case of war. Soldiers of a battalion were only recruited from that area. In 1887, the battalions' names were changed from the areas defended to the names of local villages. Therefore, e.g., the Edolo battalion's soldiers were recruited in the vicinity of the village Edolo - where the battalion's arsenal, training ground, and officer's housing were located. This local recruitment led to a strong identification of the population with the Alpini units, as men from the same village were all drafted into the same company, and the companies from one valley were all part of the same battalion.

In 1887 the Ispettorato delle truppe alpine (Alpine Troops Inspectorate) was created in Rome, which took administrative command of all Mountain troops. This led to a reorganization of the Alpini: on August 1, 1887 the 7th Alpini Regiment was formed in Conegliano Veneto receiving two battalions from the 6th regiment. The number of battalions was increased by two to a new total of 22. On November 1, 1887 the 1st Mountain Artillery Regiment was formed in Turin with nine batteries, each equipped with four 75 mm howitzers. The new layout of the Alpini thus was: