The Bersaglieris are a speciality of the Italian Army's infantry force, so called because they were originally made up of soldiers trained in precision rifle shooting. Every 18 June, the anniversary of their establishment in 1836 is celebrated. It was called the 'Corps' from its foundation until 1861. The relevant weapon association is the National Bersaglieri Association. The feathered hat, known as a bersagliere's moretto or vaira from the name of the man who first wore it, is the symbol of the speciality.
In the Kingdom of Sardinia
The Bersaglieri Corps was established by royal patent of 18 June 1836, by King Charles Albert of Savoy of Sardinia on the proposal of the then Captain of the Guards Regiment Alessandro La Marmora.
The task assigned to the new speciality included the typical functions of the light infantry - scouting, first contact with the enemy and flanking the line infantry (without, however, deploying and mixing with the latter) - but was characterised, as was the intention of its founder, by an unprecedented speed of execution of the tasks assigned and a versatility of use that made its members, even if dismounted, not only hunters, but also guides and sappers ante litteram.
Endowed with ample operational autonomy, the corps was made up of men trained in running and shooting with modern weapons ready to act, even in isolation, to engage the adversary by surprise in disruptive actions with the precise intent of disrupting his plans. Organised in small groups lined up in squares, however, the bersaglieri could also be employed in opposition to the cavalry to break their charge.
The first four companies that would later become the 1st Battalion were formed in the July 1836 (the 1st), in the January 1837 (the 2nd), in the January 1840 (the 3rd) and in the February 1843 (the 4th).
He received his baptism of fire on 8 April 1848 at the Battle of Goito Bridge during the First War of Italian Independence.
A second battalion was formed on 23 April 1848 and three others on the 30 December 1848, the 10 March 1849 two Bersaglieri battalions of the Lombardy Division were added to it. In theApril 1849 troops commanded by Alfonso La Marmora intervened to quell the uprisings in the city of Genoa. As the years went by, the number of battalions increased: 10 in 1852, 16 in 1859. In 1856 the post of 'inspector of the bersaglieri corps' was created, with the attributes of brigade commanders. In 1854 were engaged in the Crimean War, the first 'foreign mission' of Italian troops where Alessandro La Marmora himself died.
In the Kingdom of Italy
With the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy and the transformation of the Armata Sarda into the Regio Esercito came profound changes. With the Royal Decree 13 January 1861, were increased to 36 active battalions and 6 depot battalions, created by the regrouping of the depot companies. Each battalion had 4 companies, which were numbered progressively by battalion (from 1 to 4) and no longer by entire corps: thus also officially the tactical unit was no longer the company, but the battalion. As a result of the new organisation, the name 'Bersaglieri Corps' was shortened to 'Bersaglieri' and the general corps command was abolished. The 36 active battalions were grouped into 6 'Bersaglieri Corps Commands' each of 6 battalions, constituting administrative units, which took on the name 'regiment' at the end of the same year.
The regiments were assigned to the corps and the battalions assigned to the divisions within the corps as reconnaissance units.
- 1st Bersaglieri Regiment consisting of Battalions I, IX, XIII, XIX, XXI and XXVII, assigned to I Corps
- 2nd Bersaglieri Regiment consisting of Battalions II, IV, X, XV, XVII and XVIII, assigned to II Corps
- 3rd Bersaglieri Regiment consisting of Battalions III, V, VIII, XX, XXIII and XXV, assigned to III Corps
- 4th Bersaglieri Regiment consisting of Battalions VI, VII, XI, XII, XXXV and XXXVI, assigned to IV Corps
- 5th Bersaglieri Regiment consisting of Battalions XIV, XVI, XXII, XXIV, XXVI and XXXIV, assigned to V Corps
- 6th Bersaglieri Regiment consisting of Battalions XXVIII, XXIX, XXX, XXXI, XXXII and XXXIII, assigned to VI Corps
In 1862 bersaglieri battalions were increased to 40 (8 for each regiment) and in 1866 to 50 (of which the last 10 were assigned to the general reserve), before reverting to 45 battalions (9 for each regiment) at the end of the Third War of Independence.
The bersaglieri were also employed, after Italian unification, to fight brigandage in the south. On this occasion, they proved to be a particularly suitable corps, especially because of the rugged terrain where they were employed. There was no shortage of brutal episodes that characterised on both sides some of these pacification operations, which were similar both in the type of troops employed and in the brutal episodes to those previously conducted in the same area and until a few months earlier by the numerous and excellent Hunting Battalions of the Bourbon Army of the Two Sicilies.
Protagonists of the taking of Rome by 20 September 1870, battalions lost from the 1 January 1871 the operational autonomy assumed and their individual numbering by assuming progressive numbering within each of the regiments, first increased to ten out of four battalions each (1871) and then to twelve, out of three battalions each (1883) following the increase of the Royal Army's Army Corps.
Only in the 1886, On the 50th anniversary of the specialty's foundation, the battalions returned to their own individual numbering. In the same year, the Bersaglieri Regiment of Africa was briefly established with three training battalions and one volunteer battalion, for the needs of operations in the Eritrean Colony. Two battalions were completely destroyed in the Battle of Adua. In 1887, the post of inspector of the Bersaglieri was reinstated, abolished again at the end of the 1894.
Another training battalion was temporarily activated in 1905 for the expedition to China. With the 1910 order, a bicycle battalion was formed at each regiment. Three bersaglieri regiments took part in the 1911-1912 Italian-Turkish war: the 11th in Tripoli, the 8th in Homs and the 4th in Benghazi and then Rhodes. The 11th was awarded the gold medal for military valour.
In the First World War
During the First World War (1915-1918), the corps was ordered into two special divisions, seven brigades with 21 regiments and five autonomous battalions, as well as four Bersaglieri Biker Battalion Groups and three Assault Units, reaching its maximum size.
The 3 November 1918 The 2nd Brigade, consisting of the 7th and 11th Bersaglieri Regiments, left Venice early in the morning for Trieste on the destroyer Audace. At 3.30 p.m. the bersaglieri disembarked at Molo San Carlo (today Molo Audace) and reached San Giusto Hill, where, on the bell tower of the cathedral of the same name, they hoisted the first Tricolour, donated by the women of Trieste.
After the First World War
Dissolved in 1919 all new regiments formed during the Great War (in reality, the order, due to a clerical error, provided for the disbandment of all bersaglieri regiments without distinction, but was obviously only applied to the 13th to 21st regiments), the order of the 1923 increased the number of Bersaglieri regiments to 12, of which 6 were converted into cyclists, and was refined in 1924 with the 12 Bersaglieri regiments all converted into cyclists. The personnel changed in 1936. In 1935-36 some bersaglieri regiments participated in the Ethiopian War.
Bersaglieri units participated in the 1939 to the occupation of Albania, whose operations lasted only a few days and, apart from a few skirmishes, there were no major battles. The expeditionary corps was made up of two groups; the first included 12 Bersaglieri battalions, 9 cyclists, 1 motorcyclist, 1 self-propelled and 1 mixed. The Bersaglieri divisions that took part in the occupation of Albania were organised as follows:
- Durazzo Column: command of the 2nd regiment;
- Colonna San Giovanni di Medua: command of the 9th regiment;
- Valona Column: command of the 1st Regiment;
- Santi Quaranta column: command of the 12th regiment.
Within three days, all objectives were achieved; the last was the town of Fieri, which was occupied at 6 p.m. on 8 April.
In the Second World War
During the Second World War, the bersaglieri regiments were framed in the armoured, motorised and light cavalry divisions and fought on all fronts. From the end of 1940 to 1942 the 1st, 2nd and 4th Regiments distinguished themselves on the Greek-Albanian front, while the 11th in Yugoslavia.
The 5th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 12th regiments from the 1941 distinguished themselves on the African front, under the command of German General Rommel. Thanks to their skirmishing intervention in the 1942 managed to make a strategic retreat in clear numerical inferiority during the second battle of El Alamein, against British troops limiting their losses, and fought until the May 1943 in Tunisia.
The 22 June 1941 Germany initiated Operation Barbarossa, the attack on the Soviet Union. The Royal Army sent the 10 July 1941 the Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia (C.S.l.R.) consisting of three rapid divisions: Pasubio, Torino and Principe Amedeo Duca d'Aosta. The latter division included the 3rd Bersaglieri Regiment. In the various actions, the divisions were moved to the various units.
At the end of the 1941 the regiment had lost half its strength, so a new one was sent, the 6th Regiment, which had returned from Yugoslavia. This consisted of three battalions, the 6th, 13th and 19th, 106th Motorcycle Company, 272nd Cannons and 14th Auto Group. The 17th motorbike and 72nd cannons, which belonged to the 6th, were in North Africa while the 2nd motorbike and 172nd cannons were already in Russia with the 3rd Regiment.
From Italy, to reinforce the 3rd, came the 103rd Encore Supplement Battalion with 600 men. In the summer of 1942 A new battalion arrived, the LXVII Armoured Bersaglieri Division on L6-40 tanks. With three motorbike companies, the 106th/6th, 2nd/6th and 3rd/3rd, the XLVII motorbike battalion was formed. On 9 July, the C.S.I.R. became the XXXV army corps framed within the 8th Italian Army. Towards the end of December 1942, the 3rd regiment was practically destroyed in combat. Due to heavy losses, the 6th was also reconstituted: command, 6th and 19th battalions (with some survivors from the 3rd) and other smaller units. Some survivors from the destruction of the 3rd regiment were reunited on 14 March at the Celere Command, Sytnlcovo, to form part of a provisional nucleus of the 3rd regiment commanded by a captain who brought them back to Italy at the end of March 1943.
In the War of Liberation
The corps' contribution continued during the Italian War of Liberation, with units integrated into the Italian co-belligerent army and the Italian Liberation Corps. In particular:
- 4th Bersaglieri Regiment
- Battalion XXI
- Battalion XXXIII
- 1st Motorcycle Company
- LI Bersaglieri Battalion of Instruction
- 3rd Bersaglieri Regiment,
- Battalion XXIX
- Bersaglieri Battalion 'Goito'
It is necessary to divide the events of the Bersaglieri of the Kingdom of Italy after the 8 September 1943 in three parts. The first begins with the creation of the 1st motorised grouping the 28 September 1943. In this 5,000-strong unit, the LI Bersaglieri Bersaglieri Student Officer Instruction Battalion was framed, the motorised grouping took part in the Battle of Montelungo. In January 1944 the 4th Bersaglieri Regiment was reconstituted on: command company, XXIX battalion on 3 musket companies, 1 accompaniment and 1 command, XXXIII battalion of the same size as the other. The second period is that of the Italian Liberation Corps (C.I.L.), which from 18 April 1944 replaced the motorised grouping. The 4th regiment was expanded (August) with the addition of the 1st motorbike company. The third period began on 24 September with the creation of the combat groups that operated until the8 May 1945. The 4th regiment was disbanded and the Goito battalion was formed as part of the Legnano. The battalion consisted of a command company, 5th, 6th and 7th Bersaglieri companies and the 8th accompanying weapons company. Shortly before the end, in Brescia, it changed again to the LI Battalion based in Milan. In addition to these units, there was also the 447th Bersaglieri Battalion, which also absorbed colleagues from the DLVIII battalion stationed in Calabria, but which did not fight any battles.
In the Italian Regency of Carnaro
Between the September 1919 and December 1920 several units of Bersaglieri joined the volunteers led by Gabriele D'Annunzio and took part in the Rijeka Enterprise as part of the Bersaglieri Battalion Group (later the Bersaglieri Regiment of Rijeka of Italy, then the Bersaglieri Legion of Rijeka), forming the most numerous and homogenous element of the armed forces of the newly proclaimed Italian Regency of Carnaro. The more than 2,500 Bersaglieri deserters (8th Cyclist Battalion, XXXVII and XLIII Battalion of the 4th Regiment, XLVI Battalion of the 5th Regiment and elements of the 11th Regiment) were later amnestied and readmitted to the ranks of the Royal Army.
In the Italian Social Republic
After the Armistice of the 8 September 1943, numerous bersaglieri divisions were formed within the Armed Forces of the Italian Social Republic, both with military conscripts and volunteers. The divisions were:
- 1st Bersaglieri Division 'Italy', su:
- 1st Bersaglieri Regiment (on I, II and III Battalions)
- 2nd Bersaglieri Regiment (on I, II and III battalions)
- Divisional explorer group
- Divisional anti-tank company
- CIV Complement Battalion
- Divisional Scouting Group of the 2nd Grenadier Division 'Littorio'
- Divisional Scouting Group of the 4th Alpine Division 'Monterosa'
- 3rd Volunteer Bersaglieri Regiment, su:
- XVIII Bersaglieri Battalion (later IV Coastal Defence Battalion)
- XX Bersaglieri Battalion (later I Coastal Defence Battalion)
- XXV Bersaglieri Battalion (later II Coastal Defence Battalion)
- LI Bersaglieri Battalion (later III Coastal Defence Battalion)
- 8th Bersaglieri Regiment (later the 'Luciano Manara' Volunteer Bersaglieri Regiment) on:
- I Bersaglieri Battalion 'Benito Mussolini'
- II Bersaglieri Battalion 'Goffredo Mameli
- III Bersaglieri Battalion 'Enrico Toti'
- The Bersaglieri Battalion of the Anti-Partisan Regiment
- III Bersaglieri Battalion of the 'Tagliamento' Volunteer Regiment
- XXVI Bersaglieri Volunteer Battalion
- Bersaglieri Battalion 'Lightning' of the 10th Marine Infantry Division
With regard to the units that fought in the ranks of the Italian Social Republic, the first unit to be formed was the 3rd volunteer regiment formed in Milan on 27 September 1943, with personnel from the old 3rd regiment. Within a few days, the command, regimental command unit, battalions XVIII, XX, XXV and LI were created. The battalions consisted of a command company and four bersaglieri companies. The XX battalion had two cyclist companies and served as an officer trainee battalion. In early 1944, the regiment was to become the 1st regiment but then the command was moved to Germany to join the Bersaglieri Division Italy. The battalions that formed the regiment became autonomous, changing their numbering and leaving the old one as a reference. The new units were: the 1st (LI), 2nd (XX), 3rd (XXV) and 4th (XVIII).
From 2 August were attached to the Italian Armata Liguria. The 8th Bersaglieri Regiment, later named Manara, was formed the11 September 1943 in Verona. The first unit to form and reach the front was the 1st Bersaglieri Battalion Mussolini, which fought from the end of October 1943 until 30 April 1945 on the eastern frontier; it consisted of: command, command company, 1st Guastator Company, 2nd and 3rd Machine Gun Companies, 4th Mortar Company. The area of operations was the Boccia valley, the Isonzo valley from Caporetto to Monfalcone, Tolmino, Piedicolle and Capivano. This unit suffered very heavy losses. On 28 April 1945, it was ordered to regroup in Santa Lucia and from there move together with the 3rd battalion towards Cividale.
During the retreat, the units were attacked and practically destroyed. The few survivors were deported to the concentration camp in Borovnica, near Ljubljana, where they suffered the worst oppression. Only a very few in 1946 managed to escape from that real hell. Other units were the 2nd Mameli Battalion, which operated on the Adriatic front, in Garfagnana and surrendered in the Parma area. The 3rd Toti battalion was formed on 20 May 1944. The Italian Bersaglieri Division was formed in Heuberg, Germany, with volunteers from concentration camps (in all, there were 14,000 men). It was stationed south of Parma, fought in Garfagnana and disbanded on 28 April in Val di Taro. Lastly, let us mention the Lightning Bersaglieri Battalion, framed in the 10th MAS, later the Tenth Division. The unit fought on the eastern front, was encircled at Tarnova della Selva, in Slavic territory, and was liberated thanks to the action of another division of the Tenth, the 1st company of the Valanga Alpine Guastatori Battalion. Here too, as with Mussolini, there were many losses and the prisoners were treated inhumanely.
At least two bersaglieri were awarded the Gold Medal for Military Valour by the Italian Social Republic:
- Capt. Cesare ('Rino') Cozzarini, Volunteer Battalion Bersaglieri 'M' (Mignano Montelungo, 10 November 1943)
- Sgt. Stefano Rizzardi, I Battalion Bersaglieri 'Benito Mussolini' Volunteers (Lom di Canale, 25 October 1943)
In the Italian Republic
Already in the 1946 the reconstruction of the 3rd Regiment took place, which was followed in 1949 by that of the 8th and 1st Bersaglieri Regiments. Bersaglieri battalions were gradually added to the tank and armoured infantry regiments. In the years '70, the Army deployed the following units of bersaglieri:
- 1st Armoured Bersaglieri Regiment (Civitavecchia)
- 3rd Bersaglieri Regiment (Milan)
- 8th Bersaglieri Regiment (Pordenone)
- I Bersaglieri Battalion (Civitavecchia) attached to the 1st Armoured Bersaglieri Regiment
- II Bersaglieri Battalion (Legnano) attached to the 4th Armoured Infantry Regiment
- III Bersaglieri Battalion (Pordenone) under the 8th Bersaglieri Regiment
- IV Bersaglieri Battalion (Persano) attached to the 3rd Armoured Infantry Regiment
- V Bersaglieri Battalion (Pordenone) attached to the 8th Bersaglieri Regiment
- VI Bersaglieri Battalion (Turin) attached to the 22nd Armoured Infantry Regiment 'Cremona'.
- XI Bersaglieri Battalion (Sacile) attached to the 182nd Armoured Infantry Regiment 'Garibaldi'
- 12th Bersaglieri Battalion (Pordenone) under the 8th Bersaglieri Regiment
- XVIII Bersaglieri Battalion (Milan) attached to the 3rd Bersaglieri Regiment
- XX Bersaglieri Battalion (Milan) attached to the 3rd Bersaglieri Regiment
- XXIII Bersaglieri Battalion (Tauriano) under the 32nd Tank Regiment
- XXV Bersaglieri Battalion (Solbiate Olona) under the 3rd Bersaglieri Regiment
- XXVIII Bersaglieri Battalion (Bellinzago Novarese) under the 31st Tank Regiment
- XXXVIII Bersaglieri Battalion (Aviano) under the 132nd Tank Regiment
- Bersaglieri Recruit Training Battalion (Rome) under the 8th Territorial Military Command
With the restructuring of the Army of the 1975, which led to the suppression of the regiments, the commands of the 3rd and 8th Bersaglieri Regiment were transformed into commands of two mechanised brigades, the 3rd 'Goito' and the 8th 'Garibaldi'. The bersaglieri battalions, which had become autonomous, were placed under the command of various mechanised and armoured brigades; minor units of the bersaglieri were also formed, at the level of autonomous companies. At the end of the restructuring, completed between 1976 and 1977, The following Bersaglieri units appeared in the Army's order of battle:
- Headquarters 3rd Mechanised Brigade 'Goito' and its Command and Services Company (Milan)
- 8th Mechanised Brigade 'Garibaldi' Headquarters and its Command and Services Company (Pordenone)
- 1st Bersaglieri Battalion 'La Marmora' (Civitavecchia)
- 2nd Bersaglieri Battalion 'Governolo' (Legnano)
- 3rd Bersaglieri Battalion 'Cernaia' (Pordenone)
- 6th Bersaglieri Battalion 'Palestro' (Turin)
- 10th Bersaglieri Battalion 'Bezzecca' (Solbiate Olona)
- 11th Bersaglieri Battalion 'Caprera' (Orcenigo di Zoppola)
- 14th Bersaglieri Battalion 'Sernaglia' (Albenga)
- 18th Bersaglieri Battalion 'Poggio Scanno' (Milan)
- 23rd Bersaglieri Battalion 'Castel di Borgo' (Tauriano)
- 26th Bersaglieri Battalion 'Castelfidardo' (Maniago)
- 27th Bersaglieri Battalion 'Jamiano' (Aviano)
- 28th Bersaglieri Battalion 'Oslavia' (Bellinzago Novarese)
- 67th Bersaglieri Battalion 'Fagarè' (Persano)
- Goito' anti-tank company (Vercelli)
- Garibaldi' anti-tank company (Vivaro)
- Mechanised Company of the 1st Armoured Regiment (Capo Teulada)
- 1st Special Bersaglieri Athletes Company (Rome)
- 2nd Special Company Bersaglieri Athletes (Naples)
- 3rd Special Bersaglieri Athletes Company (Bologna)
- 4th Special Company Bersaglieri Athletes (Orvieto)
Starting with the first 1990s, a second restructuring of the Army led to the suppression of numerous units, including the 3rd mechanised 'Goito' Brigade, and the amalgamation and transfer of some of those that remained alive; the renaming of the 8th mechanised 'Garibaldi' Brigade as the Bersaglieri 'Garibaldi' Brigade and its transfer from Friuli Venezia Giulia to Campania; finally, regiments were reconstituted, each based on one of the pre-existing battalions. At the end of the reorganisation, the following Bersaglieri units were alive:
- Headquarters of the 'Garibaldi' Bersaglieri Brigade and its Command and Services Company (Caserta)
- 1st Bersaglieri Regiment (Civitavecchia)
- 2nd Bersaglieri Regiment (Legnano)
- 3rd Bersaglieri Regiment (Milan)
- 6th Bersaglieri Regiment (Bologna)
- 7th Bersaglieri Regiment (Bari)
- 8th Bersaglieri Regiment (Caserta)
- 11th Bersaglieri Regiment (Orcenico Superiore di Zoppola)
- 12th Bersaglieri Regiment (Trapani)
- 18th Bersaglieri Regiment (Cosenza)
From the 1980s Bersaglieri units have been frequently deployed outside Italy in almost all Italian military missions abroad, operating in Lebanon, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albania, Macedonia, Kosovo, Somalia, Iraq, Kurdistan, Afghanistan, Latvia and Libya.
There were several casualties in these missions. In 1994 in Somalia, Bersagliere Alessandro Giardina, was accidentally wounded by a fellow soldier and remained quadriplegic, dying in Italy in 2001 due to complications from his wound.
In 1999 in Bosnia, in Đakovica, Pasquale Dragano, a corporal with the 18th Bersaglieri Regiment, lost his life in an accident with his own firearm. In 2012 in Kosovo, Michele Padula, a corporal in the 11th Bersaglieri Regiment, died in an accident with his own firearm. In 2013 in Afghanistan, Giuseppe La Rosa, captain of the 3rd Bersaglieri Regiment, decorated with the gold medal for military valour in memory, fell during an attack in Farah.
Decalogue of La Marmora
- Obedience
- Respect
- Absolute knowledge of your carbine
- A lot of shooting practice
- Gymnastics of all kinds to the point of frenzy
- Camaraderie
- Family feeling
- Respect for the law and honour to the King
- Love to the Fatherland
- Self-confidence to the point of conceit.
Symbols of the Body
The flag
The bersaglieri, as they were ordered to the highest battalion level, did not and could not have the flag, which was only granted to regiments. They did not even have it at the end of the 1870, when their battalions were ordered into Regiments, as it was envisaged that Bersaglieri units would in any case operate on the battlefield in small advanced detachments with light infantry duties and (as was also the case with most similar units in other European armies) the practical usefulness of the flag in these circumstances appeared marginal compared to the considerable risk of seeing it captured by the enemy during the chaotic phases of vanguard combat. It was only with the Royal Decree 17 October 1920 No. 1488 that the Bersaglieri regiments had their first insignia, in the form of labarums, at the same time as the Alpini regiments and the Arditi units, in order to allow the military valour decorations 'to the flag' awarded to the units for the feats of arms of the First World War.
The 7 June 1938 the labarum was replaced by the national flag, adopting a 'reduced format' analogous to the banners of the Cavalry, which at that time was closely associated with the Bersaglieris as part of the Celere Troops. The standard-bearers of the Bersaglieri continued to carry the flag on parade like their old labarums, i.e. with the base of the pole inserted in the glass of a leather strap and the pole itself supported by the right arm only, leaning forward.
With the advent of the Republic, the 'reduced format' gave way to the 'single type' and the leather shoulder strap was abolished: the flag on parade was henceforth held by the standard-bearer with two hands, always leaning forward and away from the body.
The fanfare
The Bersaglieri fanfare was born with their first company the 1 July 1836, when a unit came out of the Ceppi barracks in Turin with wind instruments along with their weapons: '... twelve soldiers marched in the lead with carbines on their left shoulder, holding hunting horns in their right, with which they played a cheerful, lively march that made even the lame want to run...' (Quarenghi)
Since then, the Bersaglieri have not been allowed to take part in a parade without the fanfare and the 18 June 1836 stipulated that each company should have 13 trumpets and a bugler corporal. The meeting for the musical training of the trumpeters of the various companies gave rise to the battalion fanfare, which in a few years became an autonomous department, while the individual companies continued to have their own trumpeters. Over time, other wind instruments were added to the trumpets.
Today it is the only band in the world to perform at a running pace. According to popular tradition, the custom derives from the entry into Rome at the breach of Porta Pia, which was supposed to be performed at a running pace, but instead became a spontaneous run by the soldiers.
In addition to the fanfare of the 'Garibaldi' Bersaglieri Brigade, the 3rd, 6th, 7th and 11th Bersaglieri Regiments have their own fanfare.
The Hymn
The Bersaglieri anthem was composed in the 1860 by the young bersaglieri officer Giulio Ricordi with lyrics by the poet Giuseppe Regaldi. In 1862, Pietro Luigi Hertel made a version entitled 'Flik Flok'. The current arrangement was in 1886 by maestro Raffaele Cuconato as 'March of the Bersaglieri'.
Regimental mottos
- 1st Regiment: 'Ictu impetuque primus' (First to strike and attack)
- 2nd Regiment: 'Nulli secundus' (To no one second)
- 3rd Regiment: 'Maiora viribus audere' (Dare with greater strength)
- 4th Regiment: 'Vis animus impetus' (Courageous impetus)
- 5th Regiment: 'No path is inaccessible
- 6th Regiment: 'Certamine victures ardeo' (Anelo di vincere le battaglie)
- 7th Regiment: 'Celeritate ac virtute' (With speed and valour)
- 8th Regiment: 'Velox ad impetum' (Quick to attack)
- 9th Regiment: 'Invicte fortifiter celerrime' (Invincibly. more strongly, faster)
- 10th Regiment: 'In flammis flamma' (Flame in the flames)
- 11th Regiment: "Quis ultra?" (Who more?)
- 12th Regiment: 'Victoria nobis vita' (Victory is life for us)
- 13th Regiment: 'In hostem acerrimus in victoria primis' (In combat the fiercest, in victory the first)
- 14th Regiment: 'Meum tibi nomen usque gloriam florens' (For you my name flourishes to glory)
- 15th Regiment: 'Laudem despicio, gloriam auspicio' (I despise praise, I wish for glory)
- 16th Regiment: 'Prisca in virtute nutrior et in spe' (I feed on ancient virtue and hope)
- 17th Regiment: 'Nomen meum in aevum' (My name in the ages)
- 18th Regiment: 'Invictus et paratus ad glorias renovandas' (Undefeated and ready to renew glory)
- 19th Regiment: 'Ex vulnere vigor' (From Wound Strength)
- 20th Regiment: 'Nitor in adversum' (Splendid in adversity)
- 21st Regiment: 'Extremus non postremus' (The last but not the worst)
War Cry
Bersaglieri units have traditionally saluted with the war cry "Hurrah!" since the Crimean War, by derivation from either the Russian "Ura!" ("Ура!") or the British "Huzzah!", both traditionally used in their respective armies and of similar meaning. The only and rare exception is the reconstituted 3rd Regiment Bersaglieri, which only uses the cry "Fortza Paris!" ("Force together" in Sardinian) of Brigade Sassari, in which it has been framed since 2009.