The Brescia Arsenal was a small arms factory located in

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, and active from the early 19th century to the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

.
Initially it was built as a

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglic ...

for

Servite The Servite Order, officially known as the Order of Servants of Mary ( la, Ordo Servorum Beatae Mariae Virginis; abbreviation: OSM), is one of the five original Catholic mendicant orders. It includes several branches of friars (priests and brothe ...

monks A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...

in the 15th century, and maintained a religious destination until the end of the 18th century. Following Napoleonic suppressions the convent was turned into barracks and, in 1812, the production of small arms was started. Many kinds of small arms in use by the

Regio Esercito The Royal Italian Army ( it, Regio Esercito, , Royal Army) was the land force of the Kingdom of Italy, established with the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy. During the 19th century Italy started to unify into one country, and in 1861 Manfr ...

were overhauled in the Brescia Arsenal, including the

Vetterli rifle The Vetterli rifles were a series of Swiss army service rifles in use from 1869 to 1889,Barnes, p.196, "10.4x38R Swiss Vetterli M69/81". when they were replaced with Schmidt–Rubin rifles. Modified Vetterlis were also used by the Italian Army. ...

and the Carcano rifle in its many versions. Built-in assembly lines produced thousands of the latter, including the entire lot of the M91 TS (Special Troops) Carbine, made between 1898 and 1919. Ammunition was also produced. On 2 March 1945 the military facility was targeted by a massive

USAAF The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

air raid that wrought damage all over the city. The Arsenal was leveled and the church of St. Afra (now

Saint Angela Merici Angela Merici or Angela de Merici ( , ; 21 March 1474 – 27 January 1540) was an Italian religious educator, who is honored as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church. She founded the Company of St. Ursula in 1535 in Brescia, in which women dedi ...

) in "Via dell'Arsenale" (now via Francesco Crispi) was directly hit and collapsed causing the death of 21 people who had sought refuge there. The total death toll for the bombing was of 80 killed among the population. After

the building was named after Sottotenente Serafino Gnutti, an Alpini officer who had earned a posthumous

Gold Medal of Military Valor The Gold Medal of Military Valour ( it, Medaglia d'oro al valor militare) is an Italian medal established on 21 May 1793 by King Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia for deeds of outstanding gallantry in war by junior officers and soldiers. The fac ...

in the

Greco-Italian War The Greco-Italian War (Greek: Ελληνοϊταλικός Πόλεμος, ''Ellinoïtalikós Pólemos''), also called the Italo-Greek War, Italian Campaign in Greece, and the War of '40 in Greece, took place between the kingdoms of Italy and G ...

. The Headquarters and

Signals In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The ''IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing'' ...

section of Brigata Meccanizzata "Brescia" were accommodated there. Following the post- Cold War reorganization of the

Italian Army "The safeguard of the republic shall be the supreme law" , colors = , colors_labels = , march = ''Parata d'Eroi'' ("Heroes's parade") by Francesco Pellegrino, ''4 Maggio'' (May 4) ...

, the ''Brigata'' was disbanded and the barracks were left empty. As of August 2010, they have been alienated by the Ministry of Defence to be turned into flats and offices.

References

External links

* {{in lang, it https://web.archive.org/web/20100829081314/http://www.museonastroazzurro.it/i-pezzi/24-tenente-serafino-gnutti.html Page on Serafino Gnutti - "Nastro Azzurro" museum. Arsenals Firearm manufacturers of Italy