Editing Italian Armed Forces (section)

===Italian Army===
{{Main article|Italian Army}}
[[File:Exercise TRIDENT JUNCTURE (22804826445).jpg|thumb|[[Lagunari]] reconnaissance member in a security patrol]]
[[File:Italian Army - 8th Alpini Regiment sniper team during exercise Abbey Road 2019.jpg|thumb|[[8th Alpini Regiment]] snipers in winter ghillie suits]]

The [[Italian Army]] ({{Langx|it|Esercito Italiano}}; abbreviated as  '''EI''') is the [[Army|land force]] branch of the Italian Armed Forces. The army's history dates back to the [[Italian unification]] in the 1850s and 1860s. The army fought in colonial engagements in China and [[Italo-Turkish War|Libya]]. It fought in [[Northern Italy]] against the [[Austro-Hungarian Empire]] during [[World War I]], Abyssinia before World War II and in World War II in Albania, Balkans, North Africa, the Soviet Union, and Italy itself. During the [[Cold War]], the army prepared itself to defend against a [[Warsaw Pact]] invasion from the east. 

Since the end of the Cold War, the army has seen extensive peacekeeping service and combat in [[Afghanistan]] and [[Iraq]]. Its best-known [[combat vehicle]]s are the [[Dardo IFV|Dardo]] [[infantry fighting vehicle]], the [[Centauro (Tank destroyer)|Centauro]] [[tank destroyer]] and the [[Ariete]] [[tank]] and among its aircraft the [[Agusta A129 Mangusta|Mangusta]] [[attack helicopter]], recently deployed in UN missions. The headquarters of the Army General Staff are located in [[Rome]] opposite the [[Quirinal Palace]], where the [[president of Italy]] resides. The army is an all-volunteer force of [[active duty|active-duty]] personnel.

The Italian Army originated as the [[Royal Italian Army|Royal Army]] (''[[Regio Esercito]]''), which dates from the [[proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy]] following the seizure of the [[Papal States]] and the unification of Italy (''[[Risorgimento]]''). In 1861, under the leadership of [[Giuseppe Garibaldi]], [[Victor Emmanuel II of Italy|Victor Emmanuel II]] of the [[House of Savoy]] was invited to take the throne and of the newly created kingdom.

The Italian Army has participated in operations to aid populations hit by natural disasters. It has, moreover, supplied a remarkable contribution to the forces of police for the control of the territory of the [[South Tyrol|province of Bolzano/Bozen]] (1967), in [[Sardinia]] ("Forza Paris" 1992), in [[Sicily]] ("Vespri Siciliani" 1992) and in [[Calabria]] (1994). Currently, it protects sensitive objectives and places throughout the national territory ("Operazione Domino") since the [[September 11 attacks]] in the United States. 

The army is also engaged in Missions abroad under the aegis of the [[UN]], the [[NATO]], and of Multinational forces, such as [[Beirut]] in [[Lebanon]] (1982), [[Namibia]] (1989), [[Albania]] (1991), [[Kurdistan]] (1991), [[Somalia]] (1992), [[Mozambique]] (1993), [[Bosnia and Herzegovina|Bosnia]] (1995), [[East Timor]] and [[Kosovo]] (both in 1999), the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]] (2001), [[Darfur]] (2003), [[Afghanistan]] (2002), [[Iraq]] (2003) and Lebanon again (2006).