Ceremonies

Delivery of the dress sword

According to old traditions, every year in December the young Cadets of the “Teulié” receive the dress sword representing the symbol of the School. During a centenarian traditional ceremony the heirs of General Teulié have the official investiture of the Great Historical Uniform.

During the latest ceremony in the Giulio Cesare Courtyard of the “Teulié” Military School, 77 Cadets of the “Serafino” Course have received the dress sword from the “senior” colleagues of the “Ruocco” Dress Sword Delivery Course. After this formal gesture the young Cadets, entered the Institute in September, have the honour to dress the historical uniform of the “Teulié”.

​It represents another important step in the moral and spiritual growth of the young attenders of the prestigious School in Milan, until their oath of loyalty to the Italian Republic.

The Five Days and the delivery of the First Tricolour Flag

The Five Days of Milan have been one of the most important events in the history of Italian Risorgimento in 19th century. Almost simultaneously with the popular revolts of 1848 in the Lombardo-Veneto Reign, on 18th March the city of Milan rebelled against the troops of the Austrian Empire led by General Josef Radetzky. A temporary Government of Milan was constituted, led by Gabrio Casati, and a War Council led by Carlo Cattaneo.

The temporary Government changed the Imperial Royal College of Cadets into Artillery and Engineer School. The resistance was organized with intelligence and decision; the orphans were heroic offering themselves to connect the different parts of the city with the War Council. Because of the difficulties to resister in the city centre, Radetzky besieged it with his available forces but he had to retreat avoiding to be attacked by the Piedmont arm.

However on 22nd March the Austrians came back but the School was not reopened because of the complicity between the Milan students and the rebels of 1848.

So the School became a Military Hospital. Every year on 18th March the commemorative ceremony of the Five Days of Milan take place in “Cinque Giornate” Square, in presence of civil and military authorities, a deployed Cadets Company and the “Tamburi” Battery of the “Teulié” Military School. On that occasion the Mayor, or the Deputy Mayor, of the city gives the First Tricolour that fluttered on the Dome during the Five Days to the “Teulié” Military School”.

According to the tradition, the “Teulié” Military School has the flag during the period remembering the five days (18th – 22nd March) and it gives it back to the Municipality of Milan on the occasion of the oath of the first-year course Cadets.

The balls

Viennese Ball

For twenty-seven years in January, the traditional “Viennese Ball” has been taking place in the Spinola Palace hall (head office of the “Società del Giardino” – 10, Via San Paolo); it represents the debut in society of the young ladies members of the Austria-Italy Club, accompanied by the cadets of the “Teulié” Military School dressing their nineteenth-century historical uniform.

The elegant and exclusive event has got a great resonance in the society of Milan: authorities of Vienna and Milan Municipalities as well as Austrian and Italian personalities of the industrial and financial world participate in the event.

In fact the Viennese Ball is sponsored by the General Secretary of the Ministry of European and International Affairs, the Mayors of Vienna and Milan, the Austrian Embassy in Italy.

Mak p 100 Ball

The Cadets of the military Schools and Academy has always maintain the custom of celebrating the 100 days to the end of their studies.

The “Mak p” dates back to 1840 at the Royal Military Academy of Turin. Before that period it has never been established how much time the Cadets had to pass at the Academy until their appointment as Officers.

In 1840 the General Staff of the Savoy Royal Army promulgated a new set of rules for the Academy that defined the number and the period of the exams and the years to pass at the Academy before the appointment to the rank of Officer. The word “Mak p” was coined by the first-year Cadet of Turin Academy, Count Emanuele Balbo Bertone of Sambuy, who said “just other three years to the end of the course” in piedmont dialect.

Since the second postwar, in addition to the traditional military ceremony and the gymnastic-sport abilities display, the “Debutantes’ Ball” was included in the “Mak p 100”, representing the entrance of young ladies into the society accompanied by the Cadets of the Military Schools and Academies.

Today the “Mak p 100” is celebrated with two ceremonies: one for the “Transfer of the stick” and the other one with the “Debutantes’ Great Ball”. The “Debutantes’ Great Ball” takes place every year in May at the “Teulié”, during a gala where the Cadets accompany the young ladies of the “Setti Carraro” College, twined with the Military School, in their debut in society.

The Cadets dressing their traditional historical uniform, and the young ladies with a white dress dance polka, polonaise, quadrille and Strauss waltz. Sponsored by the Municipality of Milan and the Lombardia Region, this event has great resonance and raises the admiration by important personalities of the political, art spheres as well as by the media.

Autumn Ball

The Autumn Celebration is organized every year by the Cadets of the School.

About 600 young ladies from all the high schools of Milan are guests of the soiree.

For the occasion the Theatre Room of the School is used as dance floor with disco music and a DJ, while in the Honour Room the guests enjoy with Latin-American dances and group dancing.

The Oak

Every year in March the first-year Cadets take the oak of loyalty to the Italian Republic, in presence of the higher political and military authorities such as the Mayor of Milan, the Undersecretary of Defence, the Chief of General Staff of the Army.

During the solemn ceremony, the Commander of the Military School gives the “Tricolour Flag” of the Five Days of Milan back to the Mayor of Milan, symbolizing the strong relationship between the School and the Milan citizenry.

Through this oak, the Course pledges loyalty to the Nation, assuming the constitutional responsibilities of the military status, working hard to honour the story, the centenarian traditions and the historical uniform of the “Teulié” Military School”.

On the occasion of the Oak of the Cadets of “Del Din” Course taken place in April, the Chief of General Staff of the Army Lieutenant General Fabrizio Castagnetti, has awarded the Flag of the Military School with a Bronze Medal to the Army Valour, as custodian of traditions and example of modern military pedagogy.

The Courses organized at the Military School have got the names of the previous Cadets of the “Teulié” who were awarded with Golden Medal or Silver Medal to the Military Valour and they were fallen in battle during the War of Liberation.

Flag-raising ceremony

Every morning the Cadets of the “Teulié” participate in the solemn Flag-Raising Ceremony.

Soon after the breakfast and just before the starting of the lessons, the Cadets exercice in the formal education marching and singing the songs of the Army Corps.

After ten minutes of march, the Cadets Battalion lines up oriented towards the Tricolour Flag for the ceremony.

Singing the Italian anthem, two Cadets raise the national flag on the flagpole of the “Primo Tricolore” Courtyard.

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Inauguration of the Academic Year

​The Academic Year is generally inaugurated in October on a Friday morning. It is a simple but symbolic celebration with a great resonance in the institutional and cultural panorama of Milan. Among the participants there are political, military and university personalities as well as a very important person as honour guest.

For the occasion, the Institute asks for a “lectio” to the Honour Guest with the possibility to make questions.

In the past, some of the Honour Guests were for example Don Luigi Verzé, the Ambassador Sergio Romano, Prof. Mario Monti, Dot. Ferruccio De Bortoli, Prof. Antonino Zichichi, Dot. Vittorio Feltri, Prof. Lorenzo Ornaghi, Dot. Silvio Garattini, Dot. Corrado Passera.