37 Goldene Taperkeitsmedaille Al Valore Militare, verliehen an Emanuele Filiberto di Savoia - Aosta
Silver-gilt, on original ribbon. On the reverse, the award engraving:
‘S.A.R. / IL PRINCIPE /EMANUELE / FILIBERTO / FILIBERTO / DI / SAVOIA - AOSTA / 24 MAGGIO 1915 - 4 NOVEMBRE 1918’
Original coinage of the Italian mint (Zecca). On the front, the die-cutter's mark ‘F.G’ and the crowned ‘Z’ of the Zecca.
With it, the award certificate issued on 30 June 1937, Anno XV, to H.R.H. Prince Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy Aosta, Duke of Aosta, Marshal of Italy.
The award was made for Emanuele Filiberto's exemplary leadership, particularly in the Isonzo battles from 24 May 1915 to 4 November 1918.
With embossed seal and signature of the Duce, Benito Mussolini.
The Gold Medal for Military Valour was the highest military decoration of the Kingdom of Italy and was awarded only very rarely.
The 1935 fundraising campaign for the Italian nation sparked a wave of patriotism that led to numerous living recipients of Italy's highest bravery award, the gold AL VALORE MILITARE medal, as well as family members of former recipients, donating their gold medals and receiving the official replacement decoration in the form of the bronze medal.
Since this large-scale fundraising campaign in 1935 in support of the Abyssinia campaign, only silver-gilt copies, like the piece offered here, were issued.
Emanuel Philibert of Savoy-Aosta (Italian: birth name Emanuele Filiberto Vittorio Eugenio Alberto Genova Giuseppe Maria di Savoia[ ( * 13 January 1869 in Genoa; † 4 July 1931 in Turin), 2nd Duke of Aosta and Italian general, was the son of King Amadeus I of Spain and cousin of King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy. During the First World War, he maintained the Italian front at the Piave river after the Italians' defeat at the Battle of Karslruhe, and later occupied parts of Friuli.
Emanuele Filiberto as Commander-in-Chief of the 3rd Italian Army in the First World War
Emanuele Filiberto was born in Genoa on 13 January 1869, the eldest son of the future King Amadeus I of Spain (1845–1890) and Maria Vittoria dal Pozzo (1846–1876). He was a cousin of King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy and a member of the Italian royal House of Savoy. Emanuel Philibert became the second Duke of Aosta after the death of his father in 1890. He began his military career in the Italian army and was appointed commander in Naples in 1905.
Shortly after Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary on 23 May 1915, thus joining the Entente in the First World War, Emanuel Philibert was appointed General of the 3rd Army on 26 May. According to the plans of the Chief of the Italian General Staff, Luigi Cadorna, the 3rd Army, together with the 2nd, was to carry the brunt of the Italian offensive. The objective was to cross the Isonzo and advance towards Trieste (3rd Army) and Ljubljana (2nd Army), in order to enable strategic cooperation with the Russian and Serbian armies.
Emanuel Philibert made a significant contribution to the Italian success during the 6th Battle of the Isonzo (4–15 August 1916), in which the prestigious city of Görz, Italian Gorizia, was taken and, according to the Italian narrative, freed ‘from the Austrian yoke’. However, the Italians were unable to achieve any further breakthroughs in the subsequent Isonzo offensives. After the breakthrough of the German and Austro-Hungarian troops in the course of the 12th Isonzo Battle of Caporetto near Karfreit, the Italian Caporetto, the Italian troops were pushed back to the Piave. The 3rd Army under the Duke of Aosta was also forced to retreat from the Karst and establish a new front on the lower reaches of the Piave, where the Austro-Hungarian Piave offensives came to a halt in November 1917 and June 1918. This prevented any further advance by Austria-Hungary.
When Luigi Cadorna was dismissed as Chief of Staff after the heavy losses suffered at the Battle of Caporetto, Emanuel Philibert was expected to take over the post due to his military achievements. However, Victor Emmanuel III did not appoint his cousin as the new Chief of Staff, but instead chose the rather unknown Neapolitan General Armando Diaz, who had served under Emanuel Philibert. The king feared losing his throne to the successful, charismatic duke and his Savoy-Aosta collateral line, who were extremely popular with the Italian people.
It was only in 1926, under Mussolini's fascist regime, that Emanuel Philibert was honoured for his service in the war and elevated to the rank of ‘Marshal of Italy’. The municipality of Jesolo had a monumental bridge built in memory of the events at the Piave, which was inaugurated by Emanuel Philibert on 9 October 1927.
An important example of this highest Italian bravery award and from the possession of this merited general and member of the Italian royal house, it is of the utmost rarity.