The Carabinieri, as a military and police force, have various uniforms for different functions. For each type of uniform there are seasonal variants and (except for service, combat and historical) versions for men and women. How, when and why they are to be worn is dictated by the
"R-11 "Regulation on Uniforms for the Carabinieri Arma" published by the Carabinieri General Command in 1988. The uniforms of the Carabinieri are divided into: • historical and full dress • ordinary, • service, • representative, (for warrant officers, NCOs and constables) • Great Winter Uniform (GUI) / Great Summer Uniform (GUE) (for officers) • operational use • athletic gear Those of service, representation and GUI/GUE are a derivation of the ordinary. They still use a version of the historic uniform today for ceremonies.
Historical and Ceremonial (Special) uniform to Italy For historical and ceremonial use, the Carabinieri uniform consists of a distinctive black uniform made of silver
braids around the collar and cuffs, edges trimmed in scarlet and
epaulettes in silver. The fringes of the mounted division are white, and the infantry has light blue. The headgear used is the traditional two-pointed hat for Carabinieri, known as the Lucerna, also called a
bicorne. During the 1980s
Giorgio Armani designed the new more modern uniforms.
Ordinary uniform The modern Carabinieri Force uniform is coloured in black for every seasonal version, with small variations on a weather basis (coat or wind jacket), and is composed of: • a four-button jacket with shoulder pads: all buttons on the uniform are silvered • a shirt underneath in white, with two pockets • trousers have a classic cut, with four pockets and two vertical red stripes along the outer side of both legs, stretching from the hips to the ankles • flat black shoes The uniform is accompanied by accessories such as: • the black tie, • the white cross-belt, or
Sam Browne or no belt, • peaked cap (males), bowler cap (females) • black leather gloves, • V-neck sweater • windbreaker • waterproof coat There are differences for season, duties, rank and location. For instance, in the summer, the four-button jacket, white shirt and tie are replaced with a short-sleeved blue shirt. Depending on the weather conditions, the uniform can be worn with a waterproof coat (or beaver cloth for officers) and an anorak. Inside the military installations, the jacket can be removed or replaced with the "V-neck" sweater. In 2020, new 'bomber-style jackets', with appropriate logos, were introduced, which can be worn instead of the four-button jacket. The white cross belt is still worn on top, and either a roll-neck base layer or a white shirt and tie is worn underneath. Accessories are the same, although
Wanted in Rome reported that:
"The old leather holster will also be retired, replaced by an external belt with a quick-release holster, made of plastic material. The old gloves will be replaced with modern, cut-resistant gloves. However, style has not been sacrificed for function, begging the question, are the Carabinieri of Rome the most stylish police force in the world?" Headdress The regulation peaked cap is rigid with a
frieze of the Carabinieri (metallic for pinned, Carabinieri and students, embroidered in silver fabric for NCOs, gilded for the inspectors and officers while for the generals the frieze is the eagle of the staff with RI monogram in the centre, silver for brigade and division generals, gold for corps generals). The commanding officers of the department wear the frieze embroidered in gold-edged with red. The official emblem is placed at the center of the cap. Each cap is black and has a wimple held by two rounded buttons, the wimple is black for carabinieri, pinned, brigadiers and students; for the chief brigadiers the wimple is also black but with the addition of a silver galloncino mottled with black. The wimple becomes silver mottled with black in the center from the rank of marshal to that of chief marshal with the number of chevrons increasing as the rank increases. For the major marshals, the wimple is silver edged in red with three silver gallons flecked with black; for the top rank of non-commissioned officers, i.e. the lieutenant, the wiggle is silver edged in red with four silver braids edged in red. For the lower officers, the wiggle and the braids are entirely in silver without streaks, for the superior officers, the wiggle becomes a double braided cord always silver with silver braids. Finally, for the general officers, the wimple becomes a silver braid with silver braids. Other forms of headdress include berets and mountain-style caps. Carabinieri MP Units also wear a dark navy blue beret.
Service uniform The service uniform is essentially the same as the ordinary uniform but is adapted for the specific duty of the soldier. E.g.: • mountainous areas –
ski patrol; ski kit is worn, • mounted (horseback) patrol; different boots are worn, • 'radio-mobile' (car) patrol; different boots and a 'paletta' (stop sign used to stop vehicles) are worn, etc.
Representative (dress) uniform (For carabinieri, NCOs, warrant officers, officers.) The representative uniform is essentially the same as the ordinary uniform, but worn for more formal, but still on duty occasions, where the ordinary and ceremonial uniforms are unsuitable. It differs from the ordinary uniform for the following elements: • white cords (agiluettes) on the four-button jacket, • sabre (sword) with pendants and dragon, • black belt with shoulder strap (only marshals and chief brigadiers) or white cross-belt/bandolier (for the remaining staff). • white gloves • and a black-cape in colder conditions Sometimes the pistol is worn with the sword, other times it is not. The cap worn is the peaked cap.
Operational uniform The operational uniform is worn for public order (riot) situations, raids, cross-country work and is worn for operations only. It is blue in color with red piping and a 'Polychrome' uniform. It consists of: • jacket (with four patch pockets, shoulder straps fastened by a button and thermal lining) and trousers; • blue fleece suit (to be used as an alternative to the sweater); • blue neckerchief with red piping; • black leather gloves with reinforcement; • operational black amphibious ankle boots • and a dark-blue beret with cap badge A "particular" version of this uniform is worn by the soldiers of the Special Intervention Group, as well as the following departments: The "Tuscania" CC Parachute Regiment, Carabinieri Regiment on Horseback and Airborne Squadrons CC Cacciatori. The colours (for the trousers and jacket) are often camouflage rather than blue and red and maroon/red (for the beret) rather than blue. Riot helmets, body-armour, equipment vests, rescue helmets etc., are worn when necessary.
Gymnastic It consists of a tracksuit (jacket and pants), t-shirt and shorts. The suit consists of a jacket and long trousers in blue fabric, with red inserts. The jacket is made up of a body with a central zip, two detachable sleeves with a zip and a collar. The trousers consist of two leggings, an elastic waistband with a drawstring at the waist and a zip at the bottom. The jacket, the T-shirt and the shorts bear the
frieze of the Carabinieri.
Other There are also evening-dress style (mess kit) uniforms for dinners and galas, as well as variations for the above uniform for occasions (e.g. medals, sabres to be worn etc.).
The full set of different Carabinieri uniforms today is presented here (in Italian). Females worn by warrant officers The uniforms adopted for female staff are essentially an adaptation of the male ones. The variants concern the buttoning, the shape of the jackets (without upper pockets), the use of skirts inside the Offices, off-duty or with formal uniforms and shoes. No changes were made to any other items of clothing/equipment already in use by male personnel. == Decorations ==