September 17th is a date that carries with it two deep wounds in the recent history of Italian paratroopers. On September 17, 2009, in Kabul, a suicide attack against a Folgore convoy cost the lives of six Italian soldiers. Exactly one year later, on September 17, 2010, in Afghanistan fell Alessandro Romani, commando of the 9th Assault Parachute Regiment "Col Moschin".

Two different episodes, but linked by the same date and the same theater of operations.

Alessandro Romani, commando of the Col Moschin

Born in Rome on July 18, 1974, Lieutenant Alessandro Romani was an Army commando officer with extensive operational experience abroad. In September 2010 he was deployed in Afghanistan as part of the ISAF mission, within the Task Force 45, the Italian component of Special Forces engaged in the Afghan theater.

On September 17, his unit was deployed in the area of Bakwa, in Farah province, in western Afghanistan.

The operation had originated from the identification of some hostile elements caught while concealing an improvised explosive device along an important road artery. The group had been identified through aerial surveillance and Italian forces intervened to proceed with the capture.

The firefight at Bakwa

During the action the commandos came into contact with the insurgents and a violent firefight began.

Romani was seriously hit in the chest. Another Italian soldier was also wounded, First Master Corporal Elio Domenico Rapisarda. Romani was evacuated to the American medical facility in Farah, but the injuries he sustained proved fatal.

The Army today remembers Alessandro Romani with the rank of Captain and as Gold Medal for Military Valor. His name was also assigned to a fast assault craft intended for the commandos of the 9th Regiment "Col Moschin", at the Commando Training Base in San Rossore.

The same date as the six Fallen of Kabul

The calendar meant that everything happened exactly twelve months after one of the most painful days for the Folgore.

On September 17, 2009, shortly after 12 local time, a car bomb hit an Italian convoy in Kabul. Died Lieutenant Antonio Fortunato, Sergeant Major Roberto Valente and First Master Corporals Massimiliano Randino, Matteo Mureddu, Gian Domenico Pistonami and Davide Ricchiuto.

On September 17, 2010, while the memory of Kabul was still very vivid in the units and in families, another piece of news arrived from Afghanistan: another Italian paratrooper would not be coming home.

Sixteen years later, remembering Alessandro Romani

Today, September 17, 2026, sixteen years have passed since the death of Alessandro Romani.

His story belongs to that generation of Italian military personnel who experienced the hardest years of the commitment in Afghanistan, when patrols, operations against insurgents, IEDs and firefights were part of the daily routine in an extremely complex operational theater.

The name of Alessandro Romani continues to live on in his Regiment and among the raiders who came after him.

And September 17 remains thus a particularly painful date for Italian paratroopers: in 2009 the six Fallen of Kabul, in 2010 Alessandro Romani.

Seven men, two days separated by exactly one year.

Remembering them means preventing time from transforming their names into nothing but dates on a calendar.