Medal of the Italo-Austrian War 1915-1918

The commemorative medal of the Italo-Austrian War 1915-1918 was awarded to all soldiers, officers and enlisted men, who served during the First World War.

Interesting fact: this medal celebrated first and foremost the victory in the First World War, but also the completion of Italian unification and the 70th anniversary of the beginning of the revolutionary uprisings that had sparked the First Italian War of Independence in 1848.

The peculiarity of this medal, made evident by the inscription on the back which states "minted from enemy bronze", is that the decree establishing it stipulated that it should be "cast with bronze from artillery captured from the enemy".

The medal consists of a slightly indented bronze disc. On the obverse, the face of Victor Emmanuel III, wearing a helmet and uniform, facing left, is surrounded by the inscription: "WAR - FOR THE UNITY OF ITALY 1915 - 1918." Alternating with intertwined laurel branches, the medal features a Winged Victory carried in triumph by Italian soldiers on a pedestal made of trench shields. The inscription reads: "MINTED IN ENEMY BRONZE."

The ribbon features the inverted Italian tricolor (green, white, and red stripes), repeated six times across the surface. It could be completed with bronze bands, commemorating the years of operational service, bearing the words "1915," "1916," "1917," and "1918." Later, the 1921 circular also introduced bands with the words "Albania 1919" and "Albania 1920" for the time spent at Troop and Service Commands in Albania after the Armistice of November 4, 1918.

The chest "ribbon" was instead completed with a silver star for each year of campaign.