Commerative Cross of the Bologna divsion in North Africa

[Dennis S]

The medals are no different in nature then a German cuff title .

[Ironcrown]

The making of commemorative crosses was a common practice in the italian armed forces since the Great War. Some of those became even semi-official, like the ww1 3^ ARMATA Cross, the ww2 11^ ARMATA Cross and the the CSIR cross (aka Cross of Ice).
Some many were made that an entire book could be dedicated to the argument (the already cited Brambilla-Fossati Le medaglie a croce delle FFAA italiane 1900-1989)

Why they were made, bought and worn: narcisism, pride? Points of view I think.
Other armies used similar gadgets for the same reasons: the austro-hungarians produced the famous Kappenabzeichen in thousands of variants, some german units in ww2 made locally similar cap badges and cufftitles. In the US Army many shoulder patches were unofficial but extensively worn anyway.

A very important thing for us nowadays is that all this stuff has become very collectible

[Jean-Loup]

A cuff title, badge or patch, are a normal way to denote affiliation with a certain unit.
A medal is supposed to be given for some sort of achievement, it is not normaly made to show a soldier belongs to a certain unit.

When I first saw this medal, I found it very attractive and well designed, and I guess I am just disapointed to find out it doesnt actually have much significance.

JL

[Ironcrown]

So its fault is just that it's too well designed

The cross is the typical form of many italian commemorative decorations.
The use of enamels is also very common.
The colors and the central theme of this particular cross derivates from the crest of the city of Bologna, that gave the name to the division.
...And crown and bundles were compulsory at the time !

[Semovente]

Iron crown hello...as i said what soldier does"nt like a chest of medals..but those are mainly won in battle..and also most army s have some sort of commemoritive medals as extra 'gongs' along side their hard fought & won campaign medals..but in Italy maybe the manufacters got a little greedy ?..and appealed more & more to Italians with very ornate & fine medals...that most with a love of fine things could not resist...and they looked even better on a smart uniform...oh yes.. its also a babe magnet.....ticks a lot of boxes & if your a manufacter you get rich too !...Semovente

[mufasa]

and not only the "esprit de corps" of the Regiments and the Fascist propaganda .... so many medals and commemorative postcards also because between the two wars many very artists, designers and engravers (in particular the Futurists) were ready to respond to every request .... .

[Ironcrown]

And of course, many times the crosses were just bought and never worn, just taken apart as a souvenire.