Giulio Cesare Gotti Porcinari

Count Giulio Cesare Gotti Porcinari (Florence, 17 August 1888 – Rome, 7 luglio 1946) was an Italian general during World War II.

Biography

Hailing from an old aristocratic family, he held both the titles of Count and Patrician of Volterra, which he had inherited in 1939 at the death of his childless older brother Mario Morando Gotti Porcinari. He was also a Knight of the Military Order of Malta and a personal friend of Crown Prince Umberto. In 1914 he married Margherita Pasca dei Baroni di Magliano, with whom he had four children (Elisabetta, born in 1914; Maria Rosaria and Adele, twins, born in 1921; Alberto, born in 1926). He fought as a second lieutenant in the Bersaglieri during the Italo-Turkish War, earning a Bronze Medal of Military Valor for his behaviour during the fighting in Libya in October–November 1911, and later as a captain, major and lieutenant colonel in the First World War, earning another bronze medal on the Isonzo front in September 1915 and a War Cross for Military Valor in the Valsugana in May 1916.

In 1918-1919 he also fought with the Czechoslovak Legion, both in Italy and Slovakia; for this, he was also decorated by the Czechoslovak government. From 1934 to 1937, with the rank of colonel, he commanded the 1st Bersaglieri Regiment. In August 1939 he was promoted to brigadier general, being then attached to the Army Corps of Rome until November 1939, when he became deputy commander of the 16th Infantry Division Pistoia.

On 15 June 1940, five days after Italy's entry into World War II, he was given command of the Central Military School. In February 1942 he was appointed commander of the 54th Infantry Division Napoli, stationed in southern Sicily (with headquarters in Caltanissetta and later in Vizzini), being promoted to major general five months later. The Napoli Division, stationed between Caltagirone, Mirabella and Piazza Armerina, was tasked with intervening in support of the coastal units in the case of an enemy landing on the coast between Catania, Augusta and Syracuse, and secondarily in support of the garrisons of Gela, Ispica and Pachino.