The "Mantova" Brigade was activated on 1 March 1915 in preparation for Italy's entry into the World War I.

In 1918, the brigade participated in the Battle of the Piave River near Nervesa and in the Vittorio Veneto.

By spring 1945 the combat group was ready to join the British Eighth Army, but it arrived at the front just as the German forces had surrendered.

At the time the "Mantova" division was part of the Italian 5th Military Territorial Command.

In the 1960s the division added the 52nd Fortification Infantry Regiment "Alpi", the LXIII Tank Battalion with M47 Patton tanks and the VI Cavalry Reconnaissance Group "Lancieri di Aosta" to its ranks, but lost the 155th Artillery Regiment in the process.

By 1974, the division had been full motorized and consisted of: In 1975 the Italian Army undertook a major reorganization of its forces: the regimental level was abolished and battalions came under direct command of multi-arms brigades.

The "Mantova" brigade then consisted of the following units: After the end of the Cold War, the Italian Army began a massive drawdown of its forces.

In 2002 the Italian Army raised three division commands, with one of the three always readily deployable for NATO missions.