1° Reggimento Fanteria di Linea
1st Line Infantry Regiment

Uniform Guide

History

The regiment has its origins in the army of the Cisalpine Republic and formed part of the original army created to defend the new Kingdom of Italy in 1805. Its campaign history is summarised below:

1806/7 - Prussia
Served in VIII Corps, present at the sieges of Colberg and Stralsund.
1809 - Italy & Austria
Two battalions served in the Army of Italy, initially in Bonfanti's brigade of Severoli's division (the army was reorganised several times during the campaign). Fought at Sacile, Soave, Castelcerino, the Piave, Tarvis and Raab.
1811/12 - Spain
Three battalions of the regiment marched out to join Suchet's Army of Aragon under the command of Severoli. They seem to have been occupied mainly in garrison duties.
1813 - Germany
The 3rd and 4th battalions served in Martel's brigade, Peyri's division, IV Corps. They fought at Lützen, Königswartha and Bautzen. After the armistice the regiment fought at Gross-Beeren, Dennewitz, Wartenburg, Leipzig & Hanau.
1814 - Italy
The remnants of the regiment fought in the army of Italy as part of Zucchi's brigade, being engaged at the Mincio, Reggio and Taro River.

Organisation

The regiment was organised into four battlions and a depot in line with the standard infantry organisation.

Uniform

An early picture of the appearance of this regiment is given by the Otto Manuscript and that of the Bürger of Hamburg, which show several of its members as they appeared in 1807.

Figures from the Otto & Hamburg Manuscripts

As can be seen, the regiment initially wore a uniform similar to their French equivalents but with green coats instead of blue. In 1808, new regulations specified a white uniform for line infantry regiments

Headgear
On campaign, all companies wore a French style shako with a white metal lozenge-shaped plate bearing the regimental number. The shako bore a green, red and white cockade and a pom-pom that was green over white for fucilieri, green or yellow for volteggiatori and red for granatieri. Shako cords were white for fucilieri, green and yellow for volteggiatori and red for granatieri. for parade dress, the granatieri wore a bearskin bonnet with a red plume and white metal front plate, the red cloth patch at the rear bore a white cross. For undress wear, a white bonnet-de-police fatigue cap was worn, piped in green.
Coat
The coat was white and of the long tailed habit-coat pattern. Regiments were distinguished by a combination of red and green facings and piping, the first regiment being illustrated above. Instead of shoulder straps, volteggiatore wore green epaulettes with yellow crescents, granatieri wore red ones.
Breeches
Breeches were white and worn with white over-the-knee gaiters with white metal buttons (shorter knee-length gaiters were issued in 1810). On campaign overall trousers were worn, supposedly white but often grey or brown.

Sources

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For help, please send mail to the webmaster (webmaster@napitalia.org.uk), giving this error message and the time and date of the error.

Software error:

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For help, please send mail to the webmaster (webmaster@napitalia.org.uk), giving this error message and the time and date of the error.

Further Reading

A group of Italian enthusiasts have come together to recreate this regiment. You can find out more about them and the regiment on their web site.