ABOUT THE AUTHOR
The Author, squinting his eyes under the scorching Italian sun
I was born in the Italian city of Trieste in the early 90s.
As the poet Umberto Saba wrote, Trieste has a "Grumpy grace": It's a wonderful city on the sea, full of hills, surrounded by the Carso plateau and with an incredibly rich history.
It was under Austrian rule for six centuries, becoming the main port of the empire, with huge riches, attracting people from all over the Mediterranean basin, becoming one of the most variegated cities in the world.
It was one of the main objectives the Italians had entering WW1, and the Carso region that surrounds the city has been the main theater of some of the most brutal fightings of WW1 between Italian and Austro-Hungarian troops.
In WW2 the city became a crucial center of the German occupation of the region, and the final prize for both Jugoslavian and Allied troops, that rushed to it in May 1945.
After the war, it obtained the status of Free Territory, under Allied Government, until it switched definitively to Italian Control in 1954.
This introduction is essential to understand the context of my youth: a melting pot breathing history.
There's plenty of stories to discover in the streets and tons of place to walk in nature; each of them with something to say about the past, wether it be a WW1 trench or a WW2 battlefield.
Of course this induced in the young me a terrible desire to know more, about history, about stories, about the men behind them, and so I ended up making a job (actually, more than one) out of it, becoming a high school teacher first, and a proper hoplologist later. In my spare time, I love to do Historical research and creating historical correct props for reenactors.
I've already researched and published several historical papers about my city and its surroundings, and I wanted to offer my contribution to another huge interest of mine: military surplus firearms. Having an innate pedantery I get pissed pretty fast reading absolute BS and fuddlores, especially related to Carcano rifles, which have tons of undeserved and overstated slanders related to their name.
Thus I created this website in the tiny hope that it can be a easily accessible source to get quickly and clearly the basics of these guns, knowing their history and understanding the reasons on why there are so many variations.
There's an answer to most stuff, for the rest there are professional books!
PUBLICATIONS AND COLLABORATIONS
I advised author Leo Ortolani in his 2025 TAPUM graphic Novel, set during the Monte Ortigara Battle of WW1.
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A truly touching graphic novel about the horrors of war, with some dark humor shoven into it.
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Despite not having any obligation for historical accuracy, Ortolani asked every possible info on uniforms, guns and equipment, in order to render proper justice to the men of the era.
He implemented those infos as best as he could, with some minor inaccuracies due to story and publication requirements.
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Surely hope it will make its way into a cinematic transposition, since it is a more valuable work than most WW1 Italian movies realised up until now.
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Published on Armi&Tiro of March 2026 the history of Mannlicher-Schonauer greek rifles, revealing several points unedited up to that point, especially regarding the steps of Breda production of said rifles. Several of said steps were discovered thanks to the invaluable aid of the co-author, Viligelmo Ballabio.
Truly an important piece of culture on these rifles, which I will publish in the US as soon as I find a magazine willing to help with that.
Actively collaborated with Ruggero Pettinelli for his new Magnum Opus, the 2026 edition of "1891 - Il Fucile degli Italiani": the indisputable Bible about Carcano rifles so far.
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Exchanged archival documents, photos, ideas and theories, to make this work as complete as possible, with some small caveat. Not all infos gathered in these year could fit in a work already filling 700 pages!
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A very prolific collaboration that really helped my growth as researcher and helped the author to fill some small gaps of knowledge otherwise difficult to achieve or discover.
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A must have for Carcano owners!
Collaborated with C&Rsenal on the following youtube documentaries:
- Primer 031*: Italian Carcano Moschetto 1891 Carbine Documentary
Collaborated with Garandguy2553 on
- Carcano Manufacturers: An Overview
and on several other videos on a minor scale. Always a pleasure to exchange infos and facts about our beloved Carcanos
Collaborated with the author of the Great War Armory website to share good knowledge. He actually is the main patreon and host of this website, so I actually cannot complain about the fact that I didn't make it to its "Contributors" page. And I definetly cannot use passive-aggressive sarcasm either!
THIS WEBSITE IS DEDICATED TO:
My Father, Giuseppe, who inspired and encouraged me in my love for history and for all my passions.
​I wouldn't be here doing this work if it wasn't for his passion and his ability to transmit tons of knowledge.
My wife, Ile, who is not at all pointing a Moschetto bayonet between my ribs right now.
​She's my support, my inspiration, the sole reason I can write all this stuff without starving or dying of dehydration.
My Grandpa, Saverio, Motorcyclist Bersagliere of the 9th Bersaglieri regiment.
Born in Sicily in 1921, his family was in a good enough position to let him learn the Tailor trade (His father, Mercurio, class of 1872, was a land owner, land that he lost along with his life with the 1968 Belice earthquake).
Saverio was enlisted in 1939 and got called to arms in 1941.
He spent most of his training time in Cremona, in the Paolini Barracks where the 9th Bersaglieri Regiment was located.
Then in late 1942 was sent to Naples, in order to be shipped through the Mediterranean and got into Tunisia to withstand the last Italo-German resistance in Africa.
After several, harsh fights both on Motorcycle explorations and in trench warfare (where he lost many friends), he surrendered to US troops on April 13, 1943.
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He was sent to mainland US (allegedly around Philadelphia) where he spent his time as a POW collaborating with the US government in a textile factory, given his tailor expertise.
Returned in Italy on December 1945, he went on meeting my grandma Giuseppina and having 3 wonderful children, my Father, Giuseppe, and my Aunts, Alda and Francesca.He kept being a tailor for all his life, until he passed away for a liver infection (doctors said that he got it during the war) in 1986.
My Grandpa, Francesco, Motorcyclist Bersagliere of the 12th Bersaglieri Regiment, XLVI° Battalion, 2nd company. Hit by a handgrenade in April 1943 on the Jugo-albanian border, managed to come back to Italy before September 8th 1943, in the part of Italy under allied control, allegedly taking part in some partisan operations. He wed my grandma Grazia and had 4 children, my uncles Salvatore, Mario, Domenico and my mom Franca. Died in 1984, no pics received yet.
Diego De Henriquez, Collector, looney, smartass.
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A man from Trieste that managed to ammass all kind of weaponries, artillery and vehicles, from fascists, nazis, Partisans, British and US troops.
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A man that surely had an obsession, but that also had the wits, the culture and the language abilities to get to its objectives.
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A true inspiration, especially thanks to the museum created with part of his collection, the Museo della Guerra per la Pace Diego De Henriquez.
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I elaborated most of his wikipedia page, so you can read more about him there!
Not really dedicated to My great-great uncle Giannino, (15/09/1892 - 23/09/1941) who was a fascist rascal involved with secret services both during WW1 and during the interwar years, smuggling guns across half the world in order to arm the worst elements for the benefit of the italian fascist government. But it was a fun fact to add.
Don't ask him where he was on October 9th 1934.
