Romolo Polacchini was born in La Spezia in 1897 and attended the Italian Naval Academy in Livorno from 6 November 1911 to 7 June 1914, graduating as an ensign.

[1] In 1924 he was assigned for a year to the La Maddalena naval base; then, as a lieutenant, he was the commanding officer of the submarine H 1 and then (for four months) of the coastal torpedo boat 69 PN.

[1] In 1940 Polacchini was given command of the light cruiser Luigi Cadorna, and in this role he participated in the Battle of Calabria after Italy entered World War II.

In May 1944, in order to avoid being deported to Germany, Polacchini took a formal oath to the Italian Social Republic, but at the same time he began to work secretly with the Northern Italy National Liberation Committee.

He remained in prison for five months; after the intercession of Cardinal Giovanni Urbani, the future Patriarch of Venice and uncle to his brother's wife, he was released with the obligation of signing to the police station every evening.

On 19 February 1950, having contracted serious illness to the lungs during the period spent in prison, he was forced to leave the service on health grounds and was placed in an absolute discharge and enrolled to the Role of Honour of the Navy.