Accademia Militare

The Accademia Militare of Modena is a military university located in the Palazzo Ducale in Piazza Roma in the historic centre of the city. The academy is open for enrollment to both sexes, and focuses on the initial training and selection of future military officers in the Italian Army or in the Carabinieri. [Italy: A Complete Guide to 1,000 Towns and Cities and Their Landmarks.Touring Club Italiano, Viviana Arrigoni. Touring Editore, 1999 ISBN 8836515223, 9788836515226]

A typical course of study is at least two years, upon the successful completion of which the trainee can either go on to study at the Military Research Institute of Turin or at the Carabinieri Officer Canidate School in Rome.

Origins and History

In 1669 the Duke Carlo Emanuele II of Savoy desired an academy to provide competant military leaders who would be faithful to the royal house, and began designing the layout and gathering the staff and funds necessary for the construction of such an academy. After his death the Duchess Maria Giovanna Battista of Savoy-Nemours, the state regent, opened the Royal Academy on January 1678. As such, it is the first such military institution in the world, preceding the Artillery Military Academy in St. Petersburg (1717), the Royal Military Academy (1741) of Woolwich, London, the Ecole Militaire in Paris (1750) and United States Military Academy in West Point (1802).

The design and construction of Turin's Royal Academy were entrusted to the Court Architect Amedeo Castellamonte (1610 - 1683), whose design housed the academy until 1943. The aerial bombardments of the Second World War destroyed the entire complex, but a portion of the colonnade was gathered together and carried in 1960 and was remounted in the courtyard of the Palazzo Ducale in Modena, which at the time was called the Military Court of Turin.

In 1798 by Napoleon Bonaparte expanded the Academy's curriculum to include a military engineering school and artillery school, and it trained all Army officers in Italy until 1814. Following the Restoration, the Duke Francis IV of Habsburg-Este founded another expansion , the Military Academy of Nobility [Aristocrats in Bourgeois Italy: The Piedmontese Nobility, 1861-1930. Anthony L. Cardoza. Cambridge University Press, 2002. ISBN 0521522293, 9780521522298] , which was later opened to young people without noble titles. On the initiative of General Modena Manfredo Fanti, in 1859, a Central Military School (1859 - 1860) was founded, which became the Military School of Infantry in 1860, on the eve of the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861.

Further schools were added and recombined in later years: the Military Infantry and Cavalry in 1865 and the Military Academy of Artillery and Engineers in the early 1900's, based off the original school designed by Napoleon. In 1923 the two schools were reorganized as the Military Academy of Infantry and Cavalry (Modena) and the Military Academy of Artillery and Engineers (Torino), acquiring the title of Royal Academies in 1928.

Since 1937 the Military Academy of Modena also hosts courses for the training of officers of the Carabinieri [World Police and Paramilitary Forces. John M. Andrade. Stockton Press, 1985 ISBN 0943818141, 9780943818146] , from 1933 to 1936 were also hosted the 37th and 38th Officer's Course of the Royal Guard. In 1943 the two institutions were suspended, which resumed their function in May 1944 at the barracks of Pico Lecce as a Special Commando Royal Military Academy. After the end of the war and the fall of the monarchy, the Military Academy in Modena (1947) became unified.

Training

The Military Academy is a demanding training course for young people, and the training falls into various subcultural, military and sports-related elements. The courses of study are of various types and duration:

* The various weapons, transport, administrative commands, and materials involved in military operations, a two-year course that continues for another three years at the School of Application of Turin for more advanced officers.

* Carabinieri officers undergo a year course that continues at the School Officers in Rome with two years of application and a year of specialization, and confers a MSc Degree in Law.

* The corps of engineers follows a three-year course that continues for two years at the School of Application (Engineering).

* Veterinarians, chemists follow a course of five years (in Veterinary Science, Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Techology).

* Doctors follow a course of six years (Degree in Medicine and Surgery).

The military academy also promotes and provides "military preparation", a term they use to mean required topics all officers should know, which includes:

* Ethics and the art of military command (attachment to the institution and the state, as well as professional ethics and a sense of honor) [A Cyclopedia of Education. Paul Monroe. Gale Research Co., 1968, pg 44-50]

* Weapons, topography, English and NATO terminology

* Cartography, political science, mechanics, fluid mechanics, engineering management.

Obviously, every department has some officers specializing in some of these disciplines, but there is much cross training. The sports training includes gymnastics, defensive melee combat, swimming, riding and target shooting.

In addition to these theoretical activities (except for sports), students need a specialized technique that is manifested in military training practice. These activities are mostly mock exercises with small arms and armor, training in hand-to-hand fighting, learning how to maintain cohesion when getting to battlefields and military orientation and direction finding.

References

External Links

* [http://www.esercito.difesa.it/siti_scuole/Modena/index.html Accademia Militare]