The brigade is named after Giuseppe Garibaldi, a hero of the Italian wars of unification.

[2] The brigade's headquarters was in the city of Pordenone and most of its units came from the disbanded 8th Bersaglieri Regiment.

The 5th Army Corps was tasked with defending the Yugoslav-Italian border against possible attacks by either the Warsaw Pact, or Yugoslavia or both.

The Garibaldi's authorized strength was 4,733 men (272 officers, 637 non-commissioned officers and 3,824 soldiers) and it consisted of the following units:[1] With the abolition of the divisional level in the Italian Army on 1 October 1986 the "Garibaldi" came under direct command of the 5th Army Corps and received a new coat of arms.

With the end of the Cold War and the following massive reorganization of the Italian Army the brigade was transferred to the South of Italy to the city of Caserta, where it became operational on 1 July 1991.