In 1796, with R. Viglietto of 19th November, in the Italian region of Piemonte the Corp of General Staff of the Army was set up to manage the Army; it was abolished in 1798 during the French Government and restored as Corp of General Staff and Royal Topography by Decree of 12th November 1814.
In 1850 it was named Royal Corp of the General Staff, but in 1861 the name was changed into Corp of the General Staff after the territorial annexes; it had a Superior Office, an Actual Committee and the General Staff Application College that in 1867 was replaced by the Superior War College. In 1882 the position of Chief of the General Staff was established and assigned to the Corp Commander.
After having been suppressed by Royal Decree on 20th April 1920, the Corp of General Staff was replaced by the Service of General Staff and in 1923 the Central General Staff was set up; two years later it took again the name of General Staff of the Royal Army. In 1925 the positions of Chief and Deputy Chief of the General Staff were established.
In 1926 a set of rules set up again the Corp of General Staff and after one year the combination between the positions of Chief of General Staff of the Royal Army and the Chief of the General Staff ended. In 1935 the General Staff was organized in a Corp of General Staff, with Colonels and Lieutenant Colonels, and in a Service of General Staff with Majors, Captains and Lieutenants. By the Decree of 16th November 1944 the Corp and the Service of General Staff were suppressed and their functions were performed by Officers of the War College.
Since 1950 the General Staff of the Army has kept its essential traits even if it had some changes in its internal structure in relation to the evolving technical-military organization and to the need of ensuring its maximum functionality and efficiency.