Uniforms of the Italian Army
In the Italian Army the peace time dress uniforms consist, as a rule, of a dark blue braided coat, light gray trousers with stripes of distinctive corps color down the outer seams, and black leather boots for officers and leggings for enlisted men. The head dress varies with the corps and arm of the service, the infantry wearing a dark blue cap trimmed with colored braid, the cavalry a metal trimmed helmet or a fur busby, the field artillery a black shako with bright brass ornaments, and the Bersaglieri a black felt hat with a plume of feathers falling over the left shoulder.
The field service uniform is of gray cloth having a greenish tinge and is practically the same for all arms of the service and for all corps, except that the Bersaglieri wear their regular uniform of dark blue with red facings and their distinctive head dress.
The officers’ field uniform consists of a short sack coat with a standing-falling collar and a patch pocket on each breast; breeches or trousers cut to fit the legs tightly below the knee, black boots or tan leather shoes and leggings, and a straight crowned cap with sloping visor of black leather and a band of distinctive corps color. The coat is closed by buttons down the front concealed by a fly or by concealed hooks and eyes. On each side of the collar at the front is a silver star with a circular disc in the center upon which are the insignia indicating the corps or arm of the service to which the officer belongs.
The rank is indicated by the shoulder straps and the insignia worn upon them. The shoulder knots for General officers are covered with silver and bear gold stars to indicate the rank, those for Field officers having a narrow edging of silver braid and silver stars to indicate the rank, and those for company officers having only the silver stars to indicate the rank; as follows:—
| General | Silver covered shoulder straps with three gold stars. |
| Lieutenant General | Silver covered shoulder straps with two gold stars. |
| Major General | Silver covered shoulder straps with one gold star. |
| Colonel | Shoulder straps edged with silver braid and with three silver stars. |
| Lieutenant Colonel | Shoulder straps edged with silver braid and with two silver stars. |
| Major | Shoulder straps edged with silver braid and with one silver star. |
| Captain | Plain shoulder straps with three silver stars. |
| First Lieutenant | Plain shoulder straps with two silver stars. |
| Second Lieutenant | Plain shoulder straps with one silver star. |
The rank of officers is also shown by the braid around the cap; the cap for General officers having a red band embroidered in silver with bands of narrow gold braid above it, three for general, two for lieutenant general and one for major general; the cap for Field officers having one wide silver stripe around the band with narrow stripes of silver braid above it, three for colonel, two for lieutenant colonel and one for major; and the cap for company officers having stripes of narrow silver braid around it, three for captain, two for first lieutenant and one for second lieutenant.
The corps of officers is shown by patches of distinctive color upon the collar at each side of the neck opening and also by the insignia upon the center of the silver star worn on each side of the collar.
The enlisted men wear service uniforms of the same color as that of the officers, the coat and trousers being similar to that for officers and the cap being a plain cloth kepi of the same color as the coat with a sloping visor of black leather. The cavalry wear gray helmets, the Bersaglieri wear their own distinctive plumed hat and all men on duty in the trenches wear steel trench helmets similar to those worn by the American, British and French soldiers.
The rank of noncommissioned officers is indicated by chevrons worn points up on the sleeves between the elbow and the bottom edge of the cuff, as follows:—