Paracadutisti

The first Italian paratroopers were trained shortly before World War II at Castel Benito near Tripoli in Libya, where Italy's first Parachuting School was located.

In 1941 the staff at Castel Benito was transferred to Tarquinia near Rome where the main Italian Parachuting School was raised, which immediately began to form the first units for the 185th Infantry Division "Folgore".

The division was engaged in ground combat operations in the Western Desert Campaign from July 1942 until its destruction in the Second Battle of El Alamein.

Lacking effective anti-tank weapons, the Italian paratroopers stopped British tanks with their obsolete 47/32 guns and petrol bombs.

A number of paratroopers units were raised by Mussolini's Italian Social Republic: In 1982 the Folgore brigade landed in Beirut with the Multinational Force in Lebanon.

Parts of the Folgore have been employed many times in the Balkans (IFOR/SFOR in Bosnia and KFOR in Kosovo), with MNF in Albania and INTERFET in East Timor.