Appeared in the Italian context of uniforms in the mid-nineteenth century, the patches represent what remains of the eighteenth-century uniforms when, in the haze of the battlefield, the Commanders could find their units thanks to the multi-coloured clothes, hackles and insignias.
When the uniforms became less colored, the identifying colours of Army Corps and Specialties remained only for the collars and the stripes on the trousers.
As regards Italy, the regiment insignia phenomenon started with the Piedmont cavalry and the infantry; the insignias have adapted to the tastes, fashions and materials of that time.
In fact, over the time the patches have followed the evolution of the Army and today most of them have disappeared.
It is the case, for example, of the Infantry and Cavalry regiments with their own colours and where the patches appeared and disappeared depending on the units they represented.
Other patches, that have represented a function or a suppressed specialty of an Army, a Corps or a Service, they are destined to be forgotten.
You can find in the following pages an overview of the patches no longer in use.