Ettore Pedotti

Pedotti was born in Laveno di Como in 1842 and in March 1859, while still a teenager, he left school to answer Giuseppe Garibaldi's call for national struggle against Austrian domination, eager to enlist as a volunteer in the first regiment of the corps of Cacciatori delle Alpi, commanded by Enrico Cosenz. Here he was quickly promoted to corporal and a few days later to sergeant. In this rank, on June 16, he distinguished himself in resisting superior enemy forces at the battle of Treponti that he was decorated with the medal of the military valour.^[2]

Following the Peace of Villafranca the volunteer corps was disbanded, but when Pedotti heard of the insurrection in Sicily and the expedition of the Thousand, he hurried to enlist in the I Battalion of the Bersaglieri Lombardi, once again under the command of Cosenz, and into the battle of Milazzo, he so distinguished himself that he was promoted to lieutenant in the field. At the battle of Volturno, Pedotti showed such wit and valour that, although he was only eighteen years old, he was promoted by Garibaldi to captain in the field and decorated with the Knight's Cross of the Military Order of Savoy.^[3][2]

Pedotti took advantage of the peace to study history, sciences and military arts, becoming one of Italy's most cultured, learned and most learned officers. In 1873 Pedotti was transferred from the infantry corps to the General Staff and, after the establishment of the war school, he was assigned to teach a course there. He was subsequently made commandant of the school. Then appointed to the command of a division, then to the second command of the general staff corps, he finally reached in 1900 the supreme rank of commander of an army corps as Lieutenant general.^[2]