He participated in the
First World War with the rank of cavalry
major; serving at the Supreme Command, he distinguished himself in advanced reconnaissance actions, being awarded two
Bronze and one
Silver Medal of Military Valour for his behaviour in the battles
of Asiago,
of the Ortigara and
of Vittorio Veneto. After the war, he served as Deputy Chief of Staff of the
Florence Army Corps from January 1925 to July 1926 and then as Chief of Staff of the Territorial Military Division of
Bologna from July 1926 to November 1927. He taught at the Army War School from January 1928 to September 1929 (and later again from September 1932 to October 1933), after which he was given command of the 14th Cavalry Regiment "Cavalleggeri di Alessandria" for three years. In 1935-1936, after promotion to
brigadier general, he commanded the
29th Infantry Brigade "Peloritana II", and after its reorganization as a Division he served as deputy commander till January 1938. In September 1938, after promotion to
Major General, he assumed command of the Territorial Defence of
Florence, which he held till 1941. In 1941 he was given command of the territorial defense of
Bari, where along with General Luigi De Biase (commander of the XI Army Corps, with headquarters in Bari) he conducted the internal investigation launched by the
Royal Italian Army on the conduct of General
Nicola Bellomo for the facts of Torre Tresca (the killing of a fugitive British
prisoner of war), which resulted in his exoneration. On 11 January 1942 he was transferred to the Army reserve due to his age, and was again given command of the territorial defense of Florence; in April he was promoted to
Lieutenant General. On 11 July 1943 he was appointed commander of the territorial defense of
Turin. After the
fall of Fascism on 25 July 1943 he refused any co-operation with anti-Fascist parties and harshly applied the directives issued by
Pietro Badoglio and
Mario Roatta for the restoration of public order; on 1 August he ordered the political prisoners who had been released from prison after the fall of the regime to surrender themselves to the authorities to be taken again into custody (among them were
Communist leader Dante Conti and
Socialist Giuseppe Saragat, who were thus arrested again). He died in Rome in 1963. ==References==