Circular bronze medal with integral ribbon bar; the face with a laurel-crowned female head facing right with castellated crown, circumscribed ‘ • PER • L’ITALIA • ’ (for Italy), signed ‘P. MORBIDUCCI’ (for the sculptor and medallist Publio Morbiducci, 1889-1963), maker’s mark ‘S.J’ (for S. Johnson of Milan); the reverse with the full length figure of a warrior, a shield in his left hand, his right arm outstretched holding a sword, a female figure beyond, clutching his arm, circumscribed ‘ • VOLONTARI • DI • GUERRA • ’ (Volunteers of the War); on original court-mounting. The medal was instituted on 27 January 1944 to be awarded to those who volunteered for service with the forces of the Italian National Government in liberated Italy before 8 September 1943. A later version with the dates ‘1940-1945’ was instituted in 1948 and is found much more often than this rarer earlier version.
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