Friday morning, at the officers' club of the Turin Army in Palazzo Pralormo, in the presence of the military commander of the capital, Major General Agostino Biancafarina, the prefect of Turin, Dr. Paola Basilone and the other local civil and military authorities, the ceremony for the alternation of the commander of the Northern Military Region between General Giovanni Petrosino, transferor, and General Massimo Panizzi (on the left in the photo) taking over.
General Petrosino, who decided to bring forward the end of active service by a few months to reach the age limits, handed over the command to General Panizzi, coming from Army Training Command and Application School, where he held the position of deputy commander of the Command for Formation and commander of the Courses Department.
General Panizzi, in his speech, underlined that: “I am aware of assuming a prestigious command in a city that stands out for its elegance, its incredible history, extraordinary traditions, love for culture. A city of which - although Tuscan by origin - I now feel I am an adopted son. A special city strongly evocative of homeland history, cradle of the military traditions of our Armed Forces ". - “An“ alpine ”land where, as evident from the hat I wear with so much honor, I feel at ease. An environment - as pointed out by a predecessor of mine - which is characterized by osmosis, the close link and effective collaboration between the world of culture, civil and military institutions ”.
General Biancafarina, in his speech, after giving credit to General Petrosino for the diligent work lavished on the Command of the Northern Military Region, emphasized that “thanks to the brilliant results achieved by North Military Region Command it is also due thanks to all the civil and military personnel of the command itself who, with seriousness and professionalism, carry out their institutional task ". The general then wished General Panizzi the best of luck in his role as commander of the Northern Military Region so that he can have the same satisfactions as General Petrosino.
Brigadier General Massimo Panizzi, born in Marina di Carrara on 10 October 1962, entered the Military Academy in Modena in 1981, attending the 163rd regular course.
Officer of the Alpini, in the years 1986 -91 he commanded the company at the "L'Aquila" battalion in L'Aquila, the "Mondovì" battalion in Cuneo and the Alpine Military School of Aosta.
Subsequently, he held staff positions at theGeneral Affairs Office andPublic Information Office of the General Staff of the Army and at theInspectorate for Training and Specialization of the Army, in Rome.
In 2001 he commanded the "Susa" Alpine battalion in Pinerolo and, in the two-year period 2005-'07, the 8th Alpine regiment in Cividale del Friuli (Udine), with which he oversaw the constitution and validation of the multinational regiment of the European Battle Group based on the "Julia" Alpine Brigade.
In 2008 he attended the High Military Studies Center (CHEM) and theInstitute of High National Defense Studies (IHEDN), at the Ecole Militaire in Paris.
From 2008 to 2011 he was spokesperson and communications advisor to the president of the NATO Military Committee and strategic communication advisor for the International Military Staff (IMS) of NATO in Brussels. Subsequently, he was head of the project group on strategic communication of the Ministry of Defense and then held, until August 2013, the position of head Press and Communication Office of the Ministry of Defense.
In the rank of brigadier general he was, from September 2013 to March 2015, commander of the Alpine brigade "Taurinense", completing the project to establish the joint bi-national Italian-French brigade command. He subsequently held the positions of chief of staff, deputy commander for training and commander of the courses department of the Army Training Command and Application School in Turin.
He participated in missions abroad in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1996-'97), in the NATO IFOR and SFOR contingents; in Kosovo (2001-2002), at the helm of the “Susa” Alpine battalion and, subsequently, as spokesperson for KFOR, the NATO-led international military contingent in Kosovo.
In 2004 he took part in the "Ancient Babylon" Operation in Baghdad, Iraq, as military assistant to the deputy commander of the Multinational Army Corps (MNC-I) US-led.
General Panizzi graduated in Pedagogy and Strategic Sciences at the University of Turin, and in International and Diplomatic Relations at the University of Trieste. He holds a Master of Specialization in European Studies at the "Alcide de Gasperi" Institute in Rome, the Master in Strategic Sciences at the University of Turin, the Master in International Strategic and Military Studies at the University of Milan and the Master in “Peace Keeping and Security Studies” at the “Roma Tre” University of Rome. He also attended the Training Course “The Civilian Personnel of Peace-Keeping / Humanitarian Operations and Elections Monitoring Missions” at the “S. Anna ”of Pisa.
He conducted and published, in 2004, a Research on the relations between Military and Non-Governmental Organizations in Crisis Response Operations on behalf of the Military Center for Strategic Defense Studies (CeMiSS).
Registered in the National Order of Journalists and in the CEPAS National Register of Experts of
Marketing and Communication, he has collaborated with magazines such as "Foreign Affairs", "La Rivista Militare", "Informazioni della Defense", "Technology and Defense", "Panorama Defense", "Science and Culture in the World" and "RadioCorriere TV" . He is fluent in English and French. He is married to Mrs. Elena and they have a son, Karl Ian.
