Arnolfo Mugnai Cavaliere di Vittorio Veneto Diploma

The Italian honours system is a means to reward achievements or service to the

Italian Republic 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 re ...

, formerly the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...

including the

Italian Social Republic The Italian Social Republic ( it, Repubblica Sociale Italiana, ; RSI), known as the National Republican State of Italy ( it, Stato Nazionale Repubblicano d'Italia, SNRI) prior to December 1943 but more popularly known as the Republic of Salò ...

Orders of chivalry

Italian Republic

There are five

orders of knighthood An order of chivalry, order of knighthood, chivalric order, or equestrian order is an order of knights, typically founded during or inspired by the original Catholic military orders of the Crusades ( 1099–1291) and paired with medieval concept ...

awarded in recognition of service to the

. Below these sit a number of other decorations, associated and otherwise, that do not confer knighthoods. The degrees of knighthood, not all of which apply to all orders, are Knight (''Cavaliere'' abbreviated ''Cav.''), Officer (''Ufficiale'' abbreviated ''Uff.''), Commander (''Commendatore'' abbr. ''Comm.''), Grand Officer (''Grand'Ufficiale'', abbr. ''Gr. Uff.''), Knight Grand Cross (''Cavaliere di Gran Croce'', abbr. ''Cav. Gr. Croce'') and Knight Grand Cross with cordon (''Cavaliere di Gran Croce con cordone''). Italian citizens may not use within the territory of the Republic honours or distinctions conferred on them by non-national orders or foreign states, unless authorised by

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...

. The use of awards of the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...

(including the

Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre The Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Equestris Sancti Sepulcri Hierosolymitani, links=yes, OESSH), also called Order of the Holy Sepulchre or Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, is a Catholic order of knighthood under ...

) is to be authorized by Presidency of the Council of Ministers, while the use of those of the

Sovereign Military Order of Malta The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta ( it, Sovrano Militare Ordine Ospedaliero di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme, di Rodi e di Malta; ...

, enjoying formal recognition in Italy, do not need any authorization to boast. The Royal

House of Savoy The House of Savoy ( it, Casa Savoia) was a royal dynasty that was established in 1003 in the historical Savoy region. Through gradual expansion, the family grew in power from ruling a small Alpine county north-west of Italy to absolute rule of ...

, Italy's former Royal Family, also continues to bestow knighthoods in three orders of chivalry previously recognised by the

. In fact,

Umberto II en, Albert Nicholas Thomas John Maria of Savoy , house = Savoy , father = Victor Emmanuel III of Italy , mother = Princess Elena of Montenegro , birth_date = , birth_place = Racconigi, Piedmont, Kingdom of Italy , d ...

, the last King of Italy did not abdicate, and so he preserved his ''

fons honorum The fount of honour ( la, fons honorum) is a person, who, by virtue of his or her official position, has the exclusive right of conferring legitimate titles of nobility and orders of chivalry on other persons. Origin During the High Middle Ages ...

'': today the Grand Mastership of the orders remain under the prerogatives of Head of the

, claimed between

Vittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples , house = Savoy , spouse = , issue = Prince Emanuele Filiberto, Prince of Venice , father = Umberto II of Italy , mother = Princess Marie-José of Belgium , birth_date = , birth_place = Naples, Kingdo ...

and Aimone, Duke of Aosta. Today these continue merely as dynastic orders of the Royal House in exile. While their bestowal is suppressed by law in Italy, the use of those decorations conferred prior to 1951 is recognised, exclusive of any right of precedence in official ceremonies.Law No. 178 of 3 March 1951
''Istituzione dell'Ordine "Al Merito della Repubblica Italiana" e disciplina del conferimento e dell'uso delle onorificenze'' (Institution of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic and discipline of the conferment and the use of honours), published in

Gazzetta Ufficiale The ''Gazzetta Ufficiale della Repubblica Italiana'' (Italian, ) is the official journal of record of the Italian government. It is published by the Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato in Rome. Function The ''Gazzetta Ufficiale'' promulgate ...

No. 73, 30 March 1951 (in Italian). However the Savoy orders, are theoretically recognized by the

amongst others, for example the

Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus The Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus ( it, Ordine dei Santi Maurizio e Lazzaro) (abbreviated OSSML) is a Roman Catholic dynastic order of knighthood bestowed by the royal House of Savoy. It is the second-oldest order of knighthood in the wo ...

were recognized by papal bull of

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

Gregory XIII Pope Gregory XIII ( la, Gregorius XIII; it, Gregorio XIII; 7 January 1502 – 10 April 1585), born Ugo Boncompagni, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 May 1572 to his death in April 1585. He is best known for ...

, where he bestowed upon

Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy Emmanuel Philibert ( it, Emanuele Filiberto; pms, Emanuel Filibert; 8 July 1528 – 30 August 1580), known as ( pms, Testa 'd fer, links=no; "Ironhead", because of his military career), was Duke of Savoy from 1553 to 1580. He is remembered fo ...

and his Savoy successors, the right to confer this knighthood in perpetuity. The

House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies The House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies is a cadet branch of the Spanish royal family, Spanish Bourbons that ruled Southern Italy and Sicily for more than a century in the 18th and 19th centuries. It descends from the Capetian dynasty in legitimate ma ...

from the

Kingdom of the Two Sicilies The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies ( it, Regno delle Due Sicilie) was a kingdom in Southern Italy from 1816 to 1860. The kingdom was the largest sovereign state by population and size in Italy before Italian unification, comprising Sicily and a ...

additionally continues to bestow knighthoods, including the

Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George The Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George (SMOCG) ( it, Sacro Militare Ordine Costantiniano di San Giorgio, es, Sagrada Orden Militar Constantiniana de San Jorge), also historically referred to as the Imperial Constantinian Order ...

which is fully recognised by the Italian republic. Also the Houses of

Bourbon-Parma The House of Bourbon-Parma ( it, Casa di Borbone di Parma) is a cadet branch of the Spanish royal family, whose members once ruled as King of Etruria and as Duke of Parma and Piacenza, Guastalla, and Lucca. The House descended from the French C ...

and

Habsburg-Tuscany The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

continues to do so.

The Kingdom of Italy

The Sardinian orders of the Most Holy Annunciation, of Saints Maurice and Lazarus and the Military and Civil orders of Savoy were continued on the

unification of Italy The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single ...

in 1861. These were augmented during the Liberal period by the Order of the Crown of Italy, the Chivalrous Order of Agricultural, Industrial and Commercial Merit, the Colonial Order of the Star of Italy and later, by the Civil and Military Order of the Roman Eagle. In contrast to the Republican orders, the feminine style ''Dama'' is used for women. The

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are the ...

, usually transmitted by male

primogeniture Primogeniture ( ) is the right, by law or custom, of the firstborn legitimate child to inherit the parent's entire or main estate in preference to shared inheritance among all or some children, any illegitimate child or any collateral relativ ...

, was similar to a British

baronetcy A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

but older. These ''Cavaliere Ereditario'' were not, however, members of an order of chivalry. Church robes of the order

The Kingdom of two Sicilies

Prince Charles, Duke of Castro in the Church robes

Decorations

Italian Republic

Medals

Medals of Merit

* War Merit Cross * Army Cross of Merit * Navy Cross of Merit * Air Force Cross of Merit * Carabinieri Cross of Merit * Financial Guard Cross of Merit * Civil Merit Cross * Labour Merit Star * Medal of Merit for Culture and Art

Service medals

Maurician medal The Maurician medal is an honorary degree granted to a soldier, after 50 years of service in the Italian army (the commanding years are added afterward). This medal was established by Carlo Alberto di Savoia, on 19 July 1839 on decree of the Reg ...

Footnotes

References

External links

Presidenza della Repubblica – Le Onorificenze

Ordini dinastici della Real Casa di Savoia
{{Italy topics *

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 re ...

Orders of chivalry

Italian Republic

The Kingdom of Italy

The Kingdom of two Sicilies

Decorations

Italian Republic

Medals

Medals of Merit

Service medals

See also

Footnotes

References

External links