The Gold Medal of Military Valour ( it, Medaglia d'oro al valor militare) is an Italian

medal A medal or medallion is a small portable artistic object, a thin disc, normally of metal, carrying a design, usually on both sides. They typically have a commemorative purpose of some kind, and many are presented as awards. They may be int ...

established on 21 May 1793 by King Victor Amadeus III of

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

for deeds of outstanding gallantry in war by junior officers and soldiers. The face of the medal displayed the profile of the king, and on its reverse was a flag decoration and the words "for valour" On 14 August 1815, Victor Emmanuel I of Sardinia replaced it with the Military Order of Savoy, now known as the Military Order of Italy. Charles Albert of Sardinia revived it on 26 March 1833, and added to it the Silver and Bronze medals. These had, on their faces, the coat of arms of Savoy with laurel branches, the royal crown, and the words "for military valor". On the reverse were two laurel branches enclosing the name of the decorated soldier, and the place and date of the action. With the proclamation of the Republic on 2 June 1946, the coat of arms of the House of Savoy was replaced with the emblem of the Italian Republic. For actions performed by individuals during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the Gold Medal was awarded some 368 times, as well as 37 times to military units, and once to the Unknown Soldier. Only four of the individual awards went to foreigners, one of these being

Czar Nicholas II Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Pola ...

of Russia. The other three were for acts of gallantry in which the recipient was killed in action or died from his injuries (the Frenchmen John O'Byrne and Roland Morillot, and the American Coleman deWitt). The Gold Medal of Military Valor was one of the most parsimoniously awarded medals of World War I, granted less frequently than even the Victoria Cross which was awarded 628 times. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

the medal was awarded to soldiers of the Royal Italian Army; after these forces were reorganized following the Armistice with Italy in 1943, it was awarded to members of the Allies-supporting Italian Co-Belligerent forces. The Axis-affiliated Italian Social Republic created another design of the medal, with a

Gladius ''Gladius'' () is a Latin word meaning "sword" (of any type), but in its narrow sense it refers to the sword of ancient Roman foot soldiers. Early ancient Roman swords were similar to those of the Greeks, called '' xiphe'' (plural; singular ''xi ...

replacing the arms of Savoy, for members of the ''

Esercito Nazionale Repubblicano The National Republican Army (Esercito Nazionale Repubblicano, or ENR) was the army of the Italian Social Republic ( it, Repubblica Sociale Italiana, or RSI) from 1943 to 1945 that fought on the side of Nazi Germany during World War II. The ENR ...

'' from 1943 to 1945. This version of the award was not given recognition by the postwar Italian government. The Gold Medal for Military Valor is still awarded by the Italian state, and it, along with Silver and Bronze medals for Military Valor as well as the War Cross of Military Valour (which can only be awarded in time of war) was established by the Royal Decree of 4 November 1932, in which the purpose of these medals is defined as, "to distinguish and publicly honor the authors of heroic military acts, even ones performed in time of peace, provided that the exploit is closely connected with the purposes for which the Armed Forces are constituted, whatever may be the condition or quality of the author."

Notable recipients

The first recipient was Domenico Millelire of the Royal Sardinian Navy on 6 April 1793 and the latest recipient was in 2014 Chief Corporal-Major Andrea Adorno of the 4th Alpini Paratroopers Regiment for combat operations in Bala Murghab,

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

in 2010.

Individuals

* Cesare Airaghi * Abele Ambrosini * Irma Bandiera * Francesco Baracca * Cesare Battisti * Giuseppe Baudoin * Emanuele Beraudo di Pralormo *

Annibale Bergonzoli Annibale Bergonzoli (1 November 1884 – 31 July 1973), nicknamed ''"barba elettrica"'', " Electric Whiskers", was an Italian Lieutenant General who served during World War I, the Spanish Civil War and World War II. In 1940 he commanded the de ...

* Edoardo Bianchini *

Carmelo Borg Pisani Carmelo Borg Pisani (10 August 1915 – 28 November 1942) was a Maltese artist and Italian Fascist spy, condemned to death for treason in 1942. Early life Born into a Maltese Nationalist family in Senglea on 10 August 1915, Borg Pisani enr ...

Junio Valerio Borghese Junio Valerio Scipione Ghezzo Marcantonio Maria Borghese (6 June 1906 – 26 August 1974), nicknamed The Black Prince, was an Italian Navy commander during the regime of Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party and a prominent hard-line Fascist ...

* Carlo Emanuele Buscaglia * Giuseppe Caimi * Nicola Calipari * Inigo Campioni * Carla Capponi * Salvo D'Acquisto * Francesco De Rosa * Furio Niclot Doglio *

Luigi Durand de la Penne Luigi Durand de la Penne (11 February 1914 – 17 January 1992) was an Italian Navy admiral who served as naval diver in the Decima MAS during World War II. De la Penne was born in Genoa, where he also died. De la Penne graduated from the Ital ...

* Unatù Endisciau, the only native soldier awarded the Gold Medal * Emilio Faà di Bruno *

Carlo Fecia di Cossato Carlo Fecia di Cossato (25 September 1908 – 27 August 1944) was an officer in the Regia Marina (Italian Royal Navy), in command of submarines and torpedo boats during World War II. He was credited with the confirmed sinking of 23 enemy ships (16 ...

* Giovanni Fornasini * Giuseppe Galliano (twice awarded) * Joaquín García Morato * Maurizio Giglio * Luigi Giorgi (twice awarded) * Luigi Gorrini * Giuliano Gozi *

Amedeo Guillet Baron Amedeo Guillet (February 7, 1909 – June 16, 2010) was an officer of the Italian Army and an Italian Diplomat. Dying at the age of 101, he was one of the last men to have commanded cavalry in war. He was nicknamed ''Devil Commander'' a ...

* Charles Yorke, 4th Earl of Hardwicke * Filippo Illuminato * Antonio Locatelli (thrice awarded) * Orlando Lorenzini * Hans-Joachim Marseille *

Giulio Martinat __NOTOC__ Giulio Martinat (Perrero, 24 February 1891 – 26 January 1943 in Nikolayevka, Russia#Belgorod Oblast, Nikolayevka) was a brigadier general in the Italian armed forces during World War II. He was killed while leading his men in the Batt ...

* Paolino Mattina * Umberto Masotto * Corrado Mazzoni * Domenico Millelire * Tito Minniti * Roland Morillot * Pore Mosulishvili * Joachim Müncheberg *

Luigi Arbib Pascucci Second Lieutenant Luigi Arbib Pascucci was an Italian tank commander during World War II. He fought with the Ariete Tank Division in North Africa. Not much is known about his early life, but his most famous actions took place in the Desert War of ...

* Pietro Pedranzini * Sandro Pertini * Luigi Reverberi * Giovanni Romero * Luigi Rizzo (twice awarded) *

Fulco Ruffo di Calabria Fulco VIII, Prince Ruffo di Calabria, 6th Duke of Guardia Lombarda (12 August 1884 – 23 August 1946) was an Italian World War I flying ace and senator of the Kingdom from 1934 until his death. He was the father of Paola, Queen of the Belgi ...

* Luigi Antonio Tami * Teseo Tesei * Virginia Tonelli * Enrico Toti * Leandro Verì * Luigi Viviani

Military units

The first military unit awarded a Gold Medal was His Majesty's Dragoons Regiment (''Reggimento Dragoni di Sua Maestà'') on 21 April 1796 for unit's conduct during the

Battle of Mondovì The Battle of Mondovì was fought on 21 April 1796 between the French army of Napoleon Bonaparte and the army of the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont led by Michelangelo Alessandro Colli-Marchi. The French victory meant that they had put the Ligu ...

. Although at the time the Medal was exclusively awarded for personal bravery, King Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia ordered the regiment's

standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object th ...

to be decorated with two medals for saving his army from

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

's attack. Until 1859, when the rules for awarding the Gold Medal were expanded to include cities and military units, only the ''"Cuneo"'' Brigade was awarded a Special Gold Medal of Military Valour by King Charles Felix of Sardinia for suppressing the Revolution of 1821. The first unit to be awarded the Gold Medal after 1859 was the French Imperial 3rd Zouaves Regiment for its conduct in the Battle of Palestro. The latest unit awarded the Gold Medal was the

Jewish Brigade The Jewish Infantry Brigade Group, more commonly known as the Jewish Brigade Group or Jewish Brigade, was a military formation of the British Army in the World War II, Second World War. It was formed in late 1944 and was recruited among Yishuv, Y ...

in 2017 for the brigade's service during the Italian Campaign of

. The following list contains only the military units, which were awarded the Gold Medal of Military Valour twice. In total 112 gold medals were awarded to units of the Italian army: 105 to regiments and 7 to battalions. * His Majesty's Dragoons Regiment (1796

, the only cavalry unit to be awarded twice) * 1st Regiment "Granatieri di Sardegna" (1860 Siege of Gaeta, 1917

Tenth Battle of the Isonzo The Tenth Battle of the Isonzo was an Italian offensive against Austria-Hungary during World War I. Background With nine largely unsuccessful Isonzo battles conducted within an eighteen-month period to date, Italian Chief of Staff Luigi Cadorna ...

) * 5th Infantry Regiment ''"Aosta"'' (1859

Battle of San Martino {{Campaignbox Austro Sardinian War In 1859, during the Italian Risorgimento – the Second Italian War of Independence, – there was another greater battle here, more commonly called the Battle of Solferino or the ''Battle of Solferino and Sa ...

, 1917-18 Italian Front) * 6th Infantry Regiment ''"Aosta"'' (1859

, 1917-18 Italian Front) * 9th Infantry Regiment ''"Regina"'' (1859 Battle of Palestro, 1915-16 Italian Front) * 10th Infantry Regiment ''"Regina"'' (1860

Battle of Castelfidardo The Battle of Castelfidardo took place on 18 September 1860 at Castelfidardo, a small town in the Marche region of Italy. It was fought between the Sardinian army – acting as the driving force in the war for Italian unification, against the P ...

, 1915-16 Italian Front) * 13th Infantry Regiment ''"Pinerolo"'' (1915-18 Italian Front, 1941 Greco-Italian War) * 47th Infantry Regiment ''"Ferrara"'' (1915-17 Italian Front, 1940-41 Greco-Italian War) * 48th Infantry Regiment ''"Ferrara"'' (1915-17 Italian Front, 1940-41 Greco-Italian War) * 80th Infantry Regiment ''"Roma"'' (1941–42, 1942-43 Eastern Front) * 84th Infantry Regiment ''"Venezia"'' (1911

Italo-Turkish War The Italo-Turkish or Turco-Italian War ( tr, Trablusgarp Savaşı, "Tripolitanian War", it, Guerra di Libia, "War of Libya") was fought between the Kingdom of Italy and the Ottoman Empire from 29 September 1911, to 18 October 1912. As a result o ...

, 1943 Resistance to German forces in Yugoslavia) * 151st Infantry Regiment ''"Sassari"'' (1915–16, 1918 Italian Front) * 152nd Infantry Regiment ''"Sassari"'' (1915–16, 1918 Italian Front) *

3rd Bersaglieri Regiment The 3rd Bersaglieri Regiment ( it, 3° Reggimento Bersaglieri) is an active unit of the Italian Army based in Teulada in Sardinia. The regiment is part of the army's infantry corps' Bersaglieri speciality and operationally assigned to the Mecha ...

(1941–42, 1942 Eastern Front; the unit is also the custodian of the medal awarded to the III Bersaglieri Cyclists Battalion in 1915-18 on the Italian Front) *

6th Bersaglieri Regiment The 6th Bersaglieri Regiment ( it, 6° Reggimento Bersaglieri) is an active unit of the Italian Army based in Trapani in Sicily. The regiment is part of the army's infantry corps' Bersaglieri speciality and operationally assigned to the Mechanize ...

(1942, 1942-43 Eastern Front) *

8th Bersaglieri Regiment The 8th Bersaglieri Regiment ( it, 8° Reggimento Bersaglieri) is an active unit of the Italian Army based in Caserta in Campania. The regiment is part of the army's infantry corps' Bersaglieri speciality and operationally assigned to the Bersag ...

(1941-42 Western Desert Campaign, 1943

Tunisian Campaign The Tunisian campaign (also known as the Battle of Tunisia) was a series of battles that took place in Tunisia during the North African campaign of the Second World War, between Axis and Allied forces from 17 November 1942 to 13 May 1943. Th ...

) * 5th Alpini Regiment (1940-41 Greco-Italian War, 1942-43 Eastern Front) * 8th Alpini Regiment (1940-41 Greco-Italian War, 1942-43 Eastern Front) * 9th Alpini Regiment (1940-41 Greco-Italian War, 1942-43 Eastern Front) * 3rd Mountain Artillery Regiment (1940-41 Greco-Italian War, 1942-43 Eastern Front, the only artillery unit to be awarded twice) The

4th Alpini Regiment The 4th Alpini Paratroopers Regiment ( it, 4° Reggimento Alpini Paracadutisti) is a United States Army Rangers, Ranger-type special forces regiment of the Italian Army, specializing in Mountain warfare, mountain combat. The regiment is one of thr ...

currently also displays two Gold Medals of Military Valour on its flag, however the two medals were awarded to the regiment's Alpini Battalion ''"Aosta"'', and the Alpini Skiers Battalion ''"Monte Cervino"''.

Locations

The first geographic entity to be awarded a Gold Medal of Military Valour was the city of

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the northern base of the ''Monte Berico'', where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and east of Milan. Vicenza is a thr ...

in 1866 for its five days long resistance to Austrian assaults during the First Italian War of Independence. Vicenza is also the only city to be awarded the medal twice: the second time for its participation in the Italian resistance movement during

. The latest city to be awarded was Varzi for the creation and defense of the Partisan Republic of Alto Tortonese between September and December 1944. Examples: * Region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia * Province of Alessandria * Province of Asti * Province of Pordenone * Ascoli Piceno *

Bassano del Grappa Bassano del Grappa ( vec, Basan or ''Bassan'', ) is a city and ''comune'', in the Vicenza province, in the region of Veneto, in northern Italy. It bounds the communes of Cassola, Marostica, Solagna, Pove del Grappa, Romano d'Ezzelino, Campolongo ...

* Lanciano *

Marzabotto Marzabotto ( Medial Mountain Bolognese: ) is a small town and ''comune'' in Italian region Emilia-Romagna, part of the Metropolitan City of Bologna. It is located south-southwest of Bologna by rail, and lies in the valley of the Reno. The area inc ...

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

* Modena *

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

for the Four days of Naples in 1943 *

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second mos ...

* Varzi *

A full list of regions, provinces and cities, which were awarded for their bravery can be found at :it:Città decorate al valor militare per la guerra di liberazione.

University of Padua

The

University of Padua The University of Padua ( it, Università degli Studi di Padova, UNIPD) is an Italian university located in the city of Padua, region of Veneto, northern Italy. The University of Padua was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from ...

is the only educational institution which was awarded a Gold Medal of Military Valour. The university received it on 2 November 1945 for its furious resistance to German occupation in 1943-1945.

References