Naval History Office - Marina Militare

The Italian Navy History Office is a branch of the Italian Navy Communication Office (U.Com.) in charge of the collection of all written and photographic documents about life and history of the Italian Navy. It also publishes books on maritime subjects. The Naval History Office is located in Rome, on Via Taormina, 4. For further information, please contact our Naval History Office Secretary General at:

Telephone/Fax: (+39) - 3680 -7220
Or send an e-mail to: ufficiostorico@marina.difesa.it

Please Note: the Naval History Office, like all State Archives, does not conduct researches on behalf of third parties.

The Naval History Office is open to public from Monday to Friday. To make an appointment, please call: (+39) 06/36807233 or (+39) 06/36807226 for the Historical Archives; and (+39) 06/36807234 for the Photographic Archives. For all information on a person’s military history, please write to:

Direzione Generale del Personale Militare
Viale dell'Esercito, 186 – (00143) ROME - Italy
5° Reparto - 12ª Divisione – 2ªSezione (for Officers), tel. (+39) 06/517050192
5° Reparto - 12ª Divisione – 4ªSezione (for N.C.O.s and sailors), tel. (+39) 06/517050188

HISTORICAL ARCHIVES – 1st Office. Duties:

Acquiring, organization and storage of all documents and books of historical interest for the Italian Navy.
Consulting and assistance service to Italian or foreign scholars and researchers for the documents available.
Cooperation with the Italian Military History Commission and the other Armed Forces’ History Offices, the Italian and Foreign State Archives, Universities and Cultural Institutes of naval military historical interest.
Running of a technical/historical library for internal use.
Organization of the "Concorso Nazionale a Premi per Tesi di Laurea" (National Prize Competition for a graduation thesis) on these topics: The Italian Navy in contemporary history, an analysis of the building blocks of maritime powers, and the exercise of power as part of an effective diplomacy and foreign politics, and its influence in economic/social development, the personnel (professional training and developing skills), operations and logistics policies, naval strategy by Italian and foreign authors, instruments, infrastructures and legislation.
Admission to the reading room is restricted to authorized users who have previously made a reservation, and only to a maximum of three people a day. The users can be accompanied by an assistant.
The reading room operating times are: Monday through Thursday from 08.30am to 01.30pm; Friday from 08.30am to 11.00am.
Admissions for several consecutive days cannot exceed 5 working days per month. The reservation will be cancelled in case of absense on the first day.
The users can request no more than 3 folders per day; applications must be made by 12.00pm.
All folders must be handled with maximum care, and closed before being returned.
A photocopy machine is available to users in the reading room; photocopies of documents have a cost. Ancient or hardbound documents cannot be photocopied.
All documents currently used by the Historical Archives are not available.
In August the Historical Archives are closed to researchers.

PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVES – 2nd Section. Duties:

Listing and storage of photographic documents on Naval Units, and historic events concerning the Italian Navy.
Collection of new documents.
Consulting and assistance service to scholars and researchers.

PUBLISHING – 3rd Section. Duties:

Planning and production of the Historical Office Editorial Programme, which includes books on military history and the quarterly "Bollettino d'Archivio dell'Ufficio Storico della Marina Militare" (Italian Navy Historical Office Archives Bulletin).
Distribution of books published by this Office, either directly or through private libraries or the La Spezia and Venice Naval Museums.

HISTORICAL MUSEUMS - 4th Section. Duties:

Supervision and coordination of the activities of the Museo Storico Navale di Venezia and Museo Tecnico Navale di La Spezia personnel.
Supervision of the Navy section of the Museo Sacrario del Vittoriano.
Organization of the biennial "Concorso Pittori di Marina" (Navy Painters Competition), on the following topics: the sea, vintage and modern sailing or motor ships, naval, merchant ships and yachts; Italian Navy aircraft and helicopters, work plants and Italian naval bases.

CENTRAL LIBRARY – 5th Section. Duties:

Acquiring, enhancing and maintaining our book heritage.
Collaboration in the Italian Navy personnel technical/scientific vocational training.
Providing highly qualified support to all Navy activities, scholars and researchers.