Why modern Italian army is stereotipically considered weak?

Question

They should be at the same level of other NATO members; moreover they have great special forces as "Col Moschin", "Com.sub.in" and "Alpini"...They actually are the second country in the world after US an number of soldiers in foreign missions and are very appreciated by local populations...But there is who keep on saying that they are not even able to hold a gun in their hands or that they are better in eating than in fighting. Why?

Answer 1

hello

the italians unfortunately gained a reputation for prefering to surrender than to fight in the last war (ww2) , and although the modern army of volunteers is infinetly better than the conscript army of 60 years ago , the reputation has stuck

my great uncles fought in north africa, and often inferior allied forces routed the italians ,,,  eg Operation Compass

31 000 allied soldiers managed to

kill 3,000 italians

capture 115,000 soldiers

as well as 400 tanks 1,292 guns and 1,249 aircraft

they were not good fighters

:)

Answer 2

Unfortunately I don't know of any wars the Italians have been in that have cleansed the unfortunate reputation you guys got in WW2. Of course your reputation is still infinately more salvageable than the French, theirs is near hopeless.

Answer 3

because Italians are lovers not fighters