On 1 November 1888 the 21st Field Artillery Regiment was formed in
Piacenza. The new regiment consisted of eight batteries and one
train company ceded by the
9th Field Artillery Regiment. One of the ceded batteries had participated in the
First Italian War of Independence, during which it fought in the
Battle of Novara in 1849. Two of the ceded batteries had been part of the
Sardinian expeditionary corps in the Crimean War and fought in
Crimea in 1855–56. The same two batteries participated in the
Second Italian War of Independence, during which they fought in the
Battle of Solferino in 1859. Three of the ceded batteries had participated in the
Piedmontese invasion of Central and Southern Italy in 1860–61 and then in the
Third Italian War of Independence in 1866, and one of the batteries had participated in the
capture of Rome in 1870. In 1895–96 the regiment provided one officer and 134 troops for the formation of a mortar battery and for other units deployed to
Eritrea for the
First Italo-Ethiopian War. During the
Italo-Turkish War in 1911–12 the regiment formed the command of a Special Field Artillery Regiment, which was sent with one of the regiment's group commands and three of the regiment's batteries to
Libya. The regiment also provided 260 troops to other deployed units. On 1 March 1912 the regiment ceded its III Group to help form the
28th Field Artillery Regiment. In preparation for the division's deployment to
Libya for the
Western Desert campaign the regiment was reinforced in June 1941 with the IX Group with
105/28 cannons, the XXI Mixed Anti-aircraft Group with two batteries equipped with
75/27 C.K. anti-aircraft guns on
Lancia 1Z trucks and one battery with
20/65 mod. 35 anti-aircraft guns, and the 301st Anti-tank Battery with
47/32 mod. 35 anti-tank guns. At the time the group fielded 485 men (37 officers, 58 non-commissioned officers, and 390 soldiers).
Recent times decorates the flag of the regiment with a Silver Cross of Army Merit In 1991, after the end of the
Cold War, the Italian Army disbanded many of its artillery units in the country's Northeast and transferred their equipment to the remaining artillery units, including the 21st Field Artillery Group "Romagna", which was equipped with
M109G 155 mm self-propelled howitzers and was renamed 21st Self-propelled Field Artillery Group "Romagna". On 31 May of the same year the Mechanized Brigade "Trieste" was merged into the
Motorized Brigade "Friuli", which was redesignated Mechanized Brigade "Friuli". On 1 December 1992 the group formed a Self-defense Anti-aircraft Battery, which was equipped with
SIDAM self-propelled anti-aircraft guns. On 28 September 1993 the group lost its autonomy and the next day entered the 21st Self-propelled Field Artillery Regiment "Trieste". The same year the regiment replaced its
M109G 155 mm self-propelled howitzers with more powerful
M109L 155 mm self-propelled howitzers. In March 2001 the batteries of the 21st Self-propelled Field Artillery Regiment "Trieste" in Bologna were disbanded and the regiment's flag was transferred to
Foggia, where it supplanted the flag of the
131st Self-propelled Field Artillery Regiment "Centauro". Afterwards the flag of the Centauro was transferred to the Shrine of the Flags in the
Vittoriano in
Rome, while the 21st Field Artillery Regiment "Trieste" became the artillery unit of the
Mechanized Brigade "Pinerolo". In 2016 the regiment replaced its M109L with
FH-70 155 mm howitzers. == Organization ==