Summary

Box for set of blank colour postcards, each featuring a reproduction of work by Giovanni Fattori created between 1876-1906. They were printed by Stab. L. Salmone in Rome, circa 1990, and were brought to Australia by an Italian migrant. Each postcard depicts the Carabinieri.

The Arma dei Carabinieri (Carabinieri) was created by King Victor Emmanuel I of Savoy, with the aim of providing the Kingdom of Sardinia with a police corps in 1814. After the unification of Italy the Carabinieri were appointed the First Force of the a newly founded Italian Army in 1861. In 2000 they became a separate branch of the Italian Armed Forces. The Carabinieri undertake both civilian police work and military work.

The uniform depicted on the postcard is the initial uniform of the Carabinieri which consisted of dark blue pants and jacket with silver braid around the collar and cuffs, edges trimmed in scarlet and epaulettes in silver. The mounted division had white fringes and, the infantry had light blue. Their headgear was a distinctive hat with two points popularly called the lucerna. The Carabinieri still use a version of this historic uniform today for ceremonies.

Physical Description

Small rectangular cardboard folder/cover used to encase a set of eighteen postcards. The back and front covers are made from a single piece of cardboard which is folded together along the side edge. Attached to the inside of the back cover is an envelope pocket which is enclosed along two sides (along the right hand side and across the bottom), and into which the postcards can be slotted. The front of this pocket is cut diagonally from the lower left hand corner to the upper right hand corner and forms a triangular shaped panel. The folder is yellow in colour on the outer face and white on the reverse side. On the front cover is a black line drawing of a man dressed in some sort of military uniform on horse back. The view of the man is from the back. Situated on the inside front cover is tupe of blurb, printed in Italian, together with a sketch of a mans head and shoulders.

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