Military Academy of Modena - History

History

The Academy was originally founded in Turin, then part of the Duchy of Savoy.

In 1669 Duke Charles Emmanuel II devised the creation of an academy to provide competent military leaders who would be faithful to the House of Savoy, and began designing the layout and gathering the staff and funds necessary for the construction of such an academy, which would be completed many years later due to his passing away rather prematurely. After his death the Duchess Maria Giovanna Battista of Savoy-Nemours, the state regent, opened the Royal Academy on January 1, 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 di Castellamonte, whose design housed the academy until 1943. The aerial bombardments of World War II destroyed the entire complex; a portion of the colonnade was gathered together and carried in 1960 to Modena, were it was reassembled in the courtyard of the Palazzo Ducale, which was thus renamed the "Courtyard of the Military Academy of Turin."

The Modena location of this academy can trace its roots back to the "Academy and Conference of Military Architecture" founded by the duke Francesco III d'Este in 1756. In 1798, 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, which was later opened to young people without noble titles. On the initiative of General Manfredo Fanti, in 1859 a Central Military School 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 1900s, based on 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, 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.

Among the most illustrious alumni of the Academy are 31 ministers, 6 Prime Ministers, and 33 senators.

To commemorate the founding of the Military Academy of Modena, the Post Office of Rome issued a .41 stamp featuring the Academy flag and crest in 1999.