Original Italian WWII Royal Italian Army 1st Bersaglieri Regiment Officers Peaked Visor Cap by Olga Cani of Arezzo
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Original Item. Only One Available. The Bersaglieri are a corps of the Italian Army originally created by General Alessandro La Marmora on 18 June 1836 to serve in the Army of the Kingdom of Sardinia, later to become the Royal Italian Army. They have always been a high-mobility light infantry unit, and can still be recognized by the distinctive wide brimmed hat that they wear (only in dress uniform in modern times), decorated with black capercaillie feathers. The feathers are usually applied to their combat helmets. Another distinctive trait of the Bersaglieri is the fast jog pace they keep on parades, instead of marching. Italy began the Second World War with 12 Bersaglieri regiments of three battalions each. Over the preceding years the Army had resisted suggestions to dilute their quality, and recruits continued to be of above-average size and stamina, endured intense physical training and had to qualify as marksmen.
This is a gorgeous officer’s visor cap for an officer of the 1st Bersaglieri Regiment as indicted by the cap badge on the front, with a large flaming bomb within a horn in front of crossed rifles, with a “1” device in the center. The insignia is very similar to those used by the "Garda di Finanza" or Finance Office Guards but we are confident that this one is for the Bersaglieri.
The badge has some minor bullion loss to the bottom as shown. The black oilcloth chinstrap is in good shape held in place by two buttons with the same symbol as the badge. The interior retains a lovely maker’s mark on the crown:
Olga Cani
Confezioni Militari
AREZZO
Via Guido Monaco 9 Tel. 24-62
Interestingly, there is period newspaper being used to stiffen the shape of the cap under the sweatband. A very scarce visor cap, ready for further research and display.
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