Volteggiatori, 1° Reggimento Fanteria di Linea
Voltigeurs, 1st Line Infantry Regiment
From the Otto Manuscript

Officer Voltigeur

Each line infantry regiment had an elite company of Volteggiatori (from the French voltigeur) to perform skirmishing and other light duties. Like most Italian troops at this time, these individuals wear a uniform identical to their French equivalents, but with a green coat instead of a blue one.

The officer (left) is distinguished by silver lace on his shako and by a gold gorget and epaulette, the latter being unusual in Italians who one would normally expect to wear silver rank distinctions. His collar would probably have been yellow - though the artist uses the same colour for yellow and gold - the same as for the other ranks. The Volteggiatore (right) exhibits no such unexpected features.

The Otto manuscript appears to have been painted in the summer of 1807, possibly by the German artist Carl Wilhelm Kolbe but more probably by an unknown French artist. It contains over a hundred figures, mostly of French subjects but with a small contingent of Italians.

Source

Return to the 1° Reggimento di Linea page