[1] The division's lineage begins with the XI Brigade established on 24 June 1859 with the 19th and 20th infantry regiments of the Army of the United Provinces of Central Italy.

On 25 March 1860 the Brigade "Ravenna" entered the Royal Sardinian Army three days after the Kingdom of Sardinia had annexed the United Provinces of Central Italy.

In preparation for the Invasion of Yugoslavia the Ravenna was assigned to XI Army Corps and transferred to the Italian-Yugoslav border near Kobarid and Most na Soči in early April 1941.

The Ravenna arrived in Stalino (today Donetsk) in Eastern Ukraine in July 1942 and was assigned to the Italian XXXV Army Corps.

They moved from Stalino to Voroshilovgrad (today Luhansk) on 25 July and then proceeded to the Don river, where the division took up defensive positions between Verhny Mamon and Boguchar.

General Italo Gariboldi, Commander of the 8th Army, refused because he thought the enemy facing it was too strong and there was too little time.

The Ravenna destroyed 70 of the 200 Soviet tanks that attacked it, and Du Pont was awarded an Iron Cross First Class in the field by the Germans.

In the following days, however, the intense enemy pressure led to some units of the Ravenna near Verhny Mamon to fall back, thus opening a gap in the Axis' frontline.

During the retreat elements of the Ravenna had been separated from the division and been surrounded on 23 December 1942 at Chertkovo, where they, together with other German and Italian units, resisted repeated Soviet attacks.

[3] When the division was deployed to the Soviet Union it consisted of the following units:[9] Attached during the invasion of France in 1940:[10] Attached from late 1940 to April 1942:[10] For their conduct during the campaign in the Soviet Union the President of Italy awarded on 31 December 1947 to the two infantry regiments of the 3rd Infantry Division "Ravenna" Italy's highest military honor, the Gold Medal of Military Valor.