For the last two years I have been trying to get my hands on my Great Grandfathers' 'Foglio Matricolare' or military file from Italy. My main objective out of all of this is just to know what he did during the Great War. I know of his life here in the United States but no one in the family knows of his military service. Well, let me start off with some facts...
-I have a copy of his birth certificate, so I know for a fact his birth location, province, parents, birth date and birth name are accurate (unless it was typed wrong)
-I have a picture of him in his uniform, so I know he served... me, not being an Italian WW1 Uniform expert by any means, I had multiple people of varying degrees of expertise look at his picture and they came up with the following assumptions...
With that said, when I first contacted the archives from the province he was born in, they told me he was on their 'Liste di Leva' with a date of 1/12/1915. They told me to contact the Regional Archives which I did. Long story short, I contacted the village archives, Province archives, Regional Archives, General Army Archives in Rome and Rome State Archives all coming back with negative results. I would assume (and they as well) either he wasn't an officer or his record was lost, damaged or misplaced.
In any case, he was born in Pesaro e Urbino. The closest unit to where he was born was Brigata Pesaro 239th/240th Regiment. They in turn along with Brigata Grosseto eventually formed the 52nd Alpini Division. I feel like that might explain the possible mismatch of the uniform? There are a few other Regiments and Cavalry units I could mention but they are further away from his hometown than the one I previously mentioned.
Now, is it safe to assume he would have possibly been in the 239/240 Regiment and then the 52nd Alpine Division? Is there some other archive I should contact or website I should look at? I am at a complete loss and really don't know where else to look for information. Thank you very much.
You appear to have done quite a lot of research already. I am not sure I can really help you.
First, in so far as equipment, military attire tended to vary - a lot - given the quite extraordinary circumstances of mobilizing almost six million men in an army that, as of 1914, consisted of little over 200,000. Mountain boots, for instance, were originally reserved for Alpine troops, but as soon as possible (it took time), begun to be distributed to regular troops as well, given that large portions of the army were operating on mountain ground. Similar considerations hold for pockets and pants.
I believe that a specialist on the Italian Army during WW1 might be able to tell privates from officers, even from a picture, but unless the officer is posing "as an officer", I honestly can't.
Second, for draft, Italy used a mixed "territorial" system (and, if I am not mistaken, changes were made to account for wartime circumstances). It means that people would go through their local drafting office, customarily close to their birthplace, to then be sent to their "deposit" to join their designated regiment, which could be somewhere else entirely.
My understanding of the process is that, according to the number/identifier assigned to him in his draft list (the one from Pesaro-Urbing), he would then be sent to one draft office and then directed to one regiment. Knowing the number, and accessing to the draft papers (if they are available at all), it should be possible to follow this process to see the actual eventual assignation. His foglio matricolare could be stored somewhere along this line in physical form (and it's quite difficult to figure out where).
Without it, it's very difficult to draw a relation between place of birth and service designation. If you have any other elements that you think might help (and you are willing to share) - memories, anecdotes, additional information of sorts - I may be able to find out something more. Otherwise, I am afraid this is the best I can do.