After the announcement of the Armistice of Cassibile on 8 September 1943 the regiment fought against German forces, which tried to occupy Rome.

[1][2][3] On 21 July 1858, French Emperor Napoleon III and the Prime Minister of Sardinia Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour met in Plombières and reached a secret verbal agreement on a military alliance between the French Empire and the Kingdom of Sardinia against the Austrian Empire.

Upon Sardinia's refusal, Austria declared war on 26 April and three days later the Austrians crossed the Ticino river into Piedmont.

As the Tuscan Army sided with the people, Leopold II fled the same day to the Austrian garrison in Bologna in the Papal Legations of the Romagne.

The evening of the same day, 27 April 1859, the city council of Florence formed the Provisional Government of Tuscany, which was led by Ubaldino Peruzzi, Vincenzo Malenchini, and Alessandro Danzini.

The next day Victor Emmanuel II nominated the Sardinian ambassador in Florence Carlo Bon Compagni di Mombello as new head of state of the Grand Duchy.

[1][4] On 23 May 1859, the 5th French Corps landed in Livorno and on 29 May the Grand Duchy of Tuscany joined the Franco-Sardinian alliance against Austria.

On 11 and 12 March 1860, the Royal Provinces of Emilia and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany voted in a plebiscite for annexation by the Kingdom of Sardinia.

In 1895-96, the regiment provided one officer and 71 enlisted for units deployed to Italian Eritrea for the First Italo-Ethiopian War.

In August 1916, the two squadrons of the Regiment "Cavalleggeri di Lucca" (16th) were assigned to a cavalry brigade, which fought in the Sixth Battle of the Isonzo and was the first Italian unit to enter the conquered city ofGorizia.

The front in southern Albania remained static until July 1918, when the Italian forces went on the offensive to push the Austro-Hungarian troops beyond the Seman river.

After a short break the Italian units fell back to the hills South of the river, where they defeated a series of Austro-Hungarian counterattacks.

On 6 August 1918, the Regiment "Cavalleggeri di Lucca" (16th) distinguished itself in combat at Sheq Marinas against the Austro-Hungarian forces.

Italian patrols sent forward to reconnoiter, reported that the Austro-Hungarian forces had burned their supplies and fled Albania.

On 24 May 1925, the standards of the two disbanded regiments were transferred to the Shrine of the Flags, which at the time was located in Castel Sant'Angelo, for safekeeping.

The "Ariete" division remained in the Emilia region until August 1943, when it was sent to Rome after the fall of the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini on 26 July 1943.

The division was assigned to the Motorized-Armored Army Corps and tasked with defense of the northern approaches to Rome on both sides of Lake Bracciano in the towns of Monterosi and Manziana.

At the time, "Ariete" division's strength was 8,500 men, with 176 working tanks and armored vehicles, about 70 cannons and 92 20mm anti-aircraft guns.

[1][2][5][7] After the flight of King Victor Emmanuel III and his government from Rome, the division was ordered on 10 September to abandon the defense of the city and move to Tivoli further East.

The next day, on 11 September 1943, General Cadorna ordered to hide the standards and flags of the "Ariete" division's units, and then went into hiding in Rome, where he joined the Clandestine Military Front of Colonel Giuseppe Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo to fight the German occupiers.