Army: Granatieri commemorate the Duke of St. Peter

18/02/15

They have been engaged for months in the Safe Roads operation with over 400 men and women, they guard the most sensitive points of Rome, embassies, schools, cult centers and this morning, like every year from 1776, the Granatieri di Sardegna, oldest specialty The Italian Army solemnly celebrated don Alberto Genovese, duke of San Pietro, marching through the streets of Rome.

The ceremony took place in the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli and the Martyrs in the presence of the Undersecretary of State for Defense Domenico Rossi, the Chief of Staff of the Army, General Claudio Graziano, numerous civil and military authorities and many Grenadiers of yesterday and of today.

With today's ceremony the Grenadiers remember their benefactor who in the 1776 left the regiment a sum of money asking that the funds be used to maintain the decoration of the music of the regiment and to celebrate a mass in suffrage on the anniversary of his death.

Since then the Grenadiers of Sardinia have maintained this promise and the February 18 of each year, even in war and in captivity, they honored their loyalty commitment by remembering, in addition to the generous Duke, the sacrifice of all those who , in over three centuries and a half of history, have fallen in the fulfillment of their duty by wearing the "white whales" symbol of Unity.

The Granatieri di Sardegna, in addition to carrying out the most important presidential and high-representation services of the capital, have participated in all the operations in which the Italian Army is engaged at home and abroad.

After numerous experiences in Afghanistan and Kosovo, in the 2014 the Grenadiers Brigade took part, under the banner of the United Nations, to the UNIFIL mission in Lebanon.