An "unusual" front plate

In this picture you can see a Fiat 509 that was used in 1926 by Giorgio Ambrosini for the raid Torino - Sanremo thru Trieste. The plate is not totally visible, but the second digit "3" let me think that it was from Torino because at that time its origin code was 63 (see the table of codes before 1927).

The strange thing of this plate is its colour: it has got white digits on a black background, while at that time plates had a white background and the first two digits were red and all the others black (see the page of historical plates).

The picture is taken from the issue of March 2000 (page 77) of the magazine "La Manovella".

Very old tricycle

The tricycle shown in this picture was built in the far 1894 and its engine was really powerful: just 1.5 CV! The plate mounted on the front let me think that it is from Padova (number 42... see the table of codes before 1927). Anyway this was probably not its first plate, because this format was introduced in 1905, while plates issued before had the full name of the city (see the page of historical plates).

The picture is taken from the magazine "La Manovella".

Republican National Guard

This picture was snapped during the Second World War in the Social Republic and it shows a vehicle of the "Guardia Nazionale Repubblicana" (Republican National Guard). If you want to know more about these plates and other plates of the same time, give a look at the page of the Social Republic.

I have to thank Alessandro Libanore very much for this lovely picture he sent me!

Milizia della Strada

In this picture you can see a motorbike of the "Milizia della Strada"(Street Army), as it has got the letters MdS on the front plate (though it's very small in the photo!). The street army was created in 1932 and had the same purposes of the police, before that this took its present role. But you can learn more about that directly in the page of the Milizia della Strada.

As you can see in the picture the motorbikes had a front plate with a round shape and prints on both sides over the mudguard, like the motorbikes of the Royal Army (see also picture 9).

This picture was taken from the web site "Il museo delle divise fasciste" and I want to thank Luca Maiorano very much for let me use it on my web site. Many thanks also to Guglielmo Evangelista for his history and explanation about this subject.

Vatican City

This picture shows the Pope on his car with the plate SCV 1: it was snapped in the 1970's and the Pope that you see on the car is Paolo VI.

Even if the badge on the left of the plate had been removed after the Second World War, it seems to be still present in this picture: anyway you can see the plate better with another plate that has got for sure the papal badge in the page of Vatican plates, though unfortunately their quality is very poor.

This picture is taken from the magazine "Uniformi e Armi" and I want to thank Roberto Pola very much for sending it to me!

Decima MAS

These pictures show two vehicles of the battalion Fulmine of the flotilla Xª M.A.S. This was a special corps of the Royal Navy with light and fast water vehicles, the MAS (Motobarca Armata Svan) that could bomb and sink big boats. It was a very dangerous task and for this reasons the men of the Xª M.A.S. were well known for their bravery.

The flotilla M.A.S. was created at the beginning of the First World War, but it became Xª M.A.S. in March 1941 and had its most glorious days during the Second World War and at last it was part of the army of the Social Republic.

You can find more about plates of Xª M.A.S. in the page of the Social Republic where you can see one of these plates enlarged. If you want to know everything about the Xª M.A.S., I suggest you the web site Decima Mas: it's really very good and complete.

These pictures are taken from the collection of Maurizio Gamberini and Riccardo Maculan, authors of a book about the Decima MAS and I want to thank also Karl Voltolini for sending them to me.

Decima MAS - motorcycle

In this picture you can see a motorbike of the battalion Fulmine of the flotilla Xª M.A.S. You can see a front plate over the mudguard, but this was not official, like the front plates on the motorbikes of the Royal Army, of the Royal Navy and of the Milizia della Strada, but it was like a vanity plate, with the name of the driver or other graphics.

You can find more about the Xª M.A.S. and its plates in the frame above (pictures number 6 and 7) and in the page about the Italian Social Republic.

This picture is taken from the collection of Maurizio Gamberini and Riccardo Maculan, authors of a book about the Decima MAS and I want to thank also Karl Voltolini for sending it to me.

Bersaglieri of Regio Esercito

In this picture you can see a group of motorbikes of the Bersaglieri: it's easy to understand that they're Bersaglieri due to the unique and characteristic tuft of feathers on their helmets. You can easily see the plates on the front mudguard, like all the motorbikes of the Royal Army (Regio Esercito).

I must thank Luca Maiorano very much for this beautiful picture!

Police of Italian Africa

In this picture you can see an armoured car SPA AB 41 with a P.A.I. plate. It was snapped in the Monastery of San Cosimato, not far from Rome, in 1943, when the P.A.I. forces had already been moved in Rome.

The picture is taken from the book "P.A.I. Polizia dell'Africa Italiana" by Raffaele Girlando and I must thank Roberto Pola very much for sending it to me.