The "Farina" helmet represents an important landmark in the development of the combat helmet. After the invention of the gunpowder, the medieval helmet and the armours have lost their importance until they disappeared. During the World War I, the helmet was used again in the battlefields and the first to be adopted was the "Farina" helmet.
The helmet was given to squadrons composed of infantrymen and sappers that had to remove passive obstacles on the battlefield before the infantry action.
The helmet was designed and produced by the Engineer Ferruccio Farina whose laboratory was in Via Ruffini n. 10 in Milan. The name and the address were written on the oval stamp inside the fore brim of the helmet that had also got the size in Roman numerals (I-II-III). The helmet was composed of three main parts painted with green-grey opaque non-glare paint. The shell was in oval plate fixed by eight tacks; the fore brim was formed by four overlapping steel sheets fixed together by five tacks; also the back brim was in plate and four centimetres high.
At ears-length there were other elements in plate and a grey leather wimple with metal buckle. The front brim of 8 or 12 centimetres distinguished the "high" model from the "low" model. The "high" model reached a weight of 2250 gr. while the "low" model weighed 1850 gr. In the first models there was not a ventilation system and so it was used later a shell in plate outside the protection brims, permitting in that way a better air circulation. These models with ventilation had got both the versions with "high" brim and the versions with "low" brim. The problem of the ventilation was definitely solved when a crest similar to the "Adrian" helmet was adopted to cover a hole on the top of the shell. This change was made on the helmet of both models to which a third intermediate version was added.
There was not a standard padding and at the beginning it was used on the battle cap worn backwards. Later, a cloth headgear was stuffed with horse hair and cotton wool. In some cases, two pieces of natural rubber were fixed inside the front brim to improve the helmet stability. In spite of the attempts to improve the wearability of the helmet, the "Farina" helmet remained uncomfortable and heavy. The production was stopped with the massive distribution of the 15 Model and the following versions.