Giuseppe Domenico Perrucchetti (13 July 1839 – 5 October 1916) was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

general and politician, the creator of the

Alpini The Alpini are the Italian Army's specialist mountain infantry. Part of the army's infantry corps, the speciality distinguished itself in combat during World War I and World War II. Currently the active Alpini units are organized in two operati ...

corps. He was born in

Cassano d'Adda Cassano d'Adda (Milanese: ; Bergamasque: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Milan, Lombardy, Italy, located on the right side of the Adda River. It is on the border of the Metropolitan City of Milan and the province of Bergamo ...

, in what is now the

province of Milan The province of Milan () was a province in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its capital was the city of Milan. The area of the former province is highly urbanized, with more than 2,000 inhabitants/km2, the third-highest population density among Ital ...

Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

. He studied architecture at the

University of Pavia The University of Pavia (, UNIPV or ''Università di Pavia''; ) is a university located in Pavia, Lombardy, Italy. There was evidence of teaching as early as 1361, making it one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest un ...

, but when he was twenty, he fled from

(at the time under Austrian domination) to enroll in the

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

army. He was a volunteer in the

Second Italian Independence War The Second Italian War of Independence, also called the Sardinian War, the Austro-Sardinian War, the Franco-Austrian War, or the Italian War of 1859 (Italian: ''Seconda guerra d'indipendenza italiana''; German: ''Sardinischer Krieg''; French: ...

and in the 1866 war against Austria, at which point he gained a silver medal in the Battle of Custoza and was promoted to Captain. In 1872 Perrucchetti proposed the creation of an infantry corps specialized in mountain warfare, for the defense of the mountainous Italian border, in an article published in the Italian military journal ''Rivista Militare Italiana''. Perrucchetti drew examples from the mountain militias in the Roman age, the '' Cacciatori delle Alpi'' brigades, and the Volontari Cadorini led by Pier Fortunato Calvi. His proposal (although not the only one in its kind) is considered to have been the basis for the foundation of the Alpini by General Cesare Ricotti-Magnani, then-Minister of War, in the same year. Curiously, though, Perrucchetti never joined the corps, nor did he ever command it. Perucchetti later rose to the rank of Lieutenant General, and was appointed a Senator of the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy (, ) was a unitary state that existed from 17 March 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 10 June 1946, when the monarchy wa ...

; he retired in 1910. He died in 1916, when the Alpini were operating in the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Perrucchetti, Giuseppe 1839 births 1916 deaths People from Cassano d'Adda Italian Army generals Italian politicians