The Italian Armed Forces (italian: Forze Armate Italiane) encompass the Italian Army, the Italian Navy, the Italian Air Force and the Carabinieri. The President of the Italian Republic heads the armed forces as the President of the Supreme Council of Defence. The total number of active military personnel in 2011 is 319,529 (including the national gendarmerie, but excluding Guardia di Finanza, a military corp under the authority of the Italian Ministry of Economy). Italy currently runs the ninth or tenth highest military budget in the world.
Read more about Italian Armed Forces: Italian Constitution, The Four Branches of Italian Armed Forces, NATO Membership and UN Missions
Famous quotes containing the words italian, armed and/or forces:
“Master of Trinity: Is he an Italian?
Harold Abrahams: Of Italian extraction, yes.
Master of Trinity: I see.
Harold Abrahams: But not all Italian.
Master of Trinity: I’m relieved to hear it.
Harold Abrahams: He’s half-Arab.”
—Colin Welland (b. 1934)
“Today we seek a moral basis for peace.... It cannot be a lasting peace if the fruit of it is oppression, or starvation, cruelty, or human life dominated by armed camps. It cannot be a sound peace if small nations must live in fear of powerful neighbors. It cannot be a moral peace if freedom from invasion is sold for tribute.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)
“There is the falsely mystical view of art that assumes a kind of supernatural inspiration, a possession by universal forces unrelated to questions of power and privilege or the artist’s relation to bread and blood. In this view, the channel of art can only become clogged and misdirected by the artist’s concern with merely temporary and local disturbances. The song is higher than the struggle.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)