
The Italian Marina Militare camouflage pattern was worn exclusively by Marines of the Italian Navy’s ‘San Marco’ Battalion / Regiment, writes Bob Morrison.
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Before reading any further please note that two different uniforms in San Marco camouflage, photographed 21 years apart, are featured here. The first uniform design of the two, seen here on a model, was worn in the by Battaglione Marina ‘San Marco’ (Marine Battalion ‘Saint Mark’) in the last decade of the 20th Century and into the first decade of the new Millennium, and the second design was issued to the by now expanded 1° Reggimento ‘San Marco’ (1st San Marco Regiment) for a short period until the Italian Navy as a whole adopted the M04 Mimetico Vegetata pattern worn by other branches of service as its primary camo.

Now a little bit on the San Marco battalion and regiment: Italy’s Marina Militare (Marine Infantry) can trace its history back over 300 years but the naval brigade was only awarded the ‘San Marco’ title after its successful defence of Venice towards the end of the First World War; St Mark is the city’s patron and the winged lion in the battalion’s patch is from the city coat of arms. Between the World Wars the brigade was reduced to a single battalion but was expanded to a multi-battalion regiment during WW2. In the mid-1950s the regiment was disbanded but reactivated as a battalion in the mid-1960s and served as such until the 1990s when expanded back to regiment strength. In 2013 the 1° Reggimento was incorporated into the San Marco Brigade (Brigata Marina San Marco), which has a Headquarters plus three Marine Infantry Brigades, and this formation was issued uniforms in the by now universal M04 Mimetico Vegetata pattern.
1998 Contract San Marco Battalion uniform photographed in shade and bright light against different backgrounds [©BM]
1998 Contract Uniform: This San Marco uniform, borrowed in 2003 from the private collection of a British military garment manufacturer, is what is usually considered to be the second production batch design as it has minor detail differences from the original early 1990s production batch. The jacket came with a simple button-in felt liner (not shown) to allow it to be worn in colder climates such as Italy’s Alpine northern region.


Of conventional shirt design and intended to be worn outside the trousers, the shirt had a seven button concealed fastening front flat though the top button was exposed; the neck could be worn pressed open for warm climates, buttoned up for smartness, or with the collar raided mandarin-style fastened by a tab and extra button. There were two external chest pockets and two pleated lower cargo pockets, both with bellowed bottom and trailing edges, and cover flaps closed with two concealed buttons apiece. Jacket pocket cover flaps were slightly slanted for easier access and the chest pockets were sewn on the slant. There was an open-topped patch pocket on the upper left sleeve with smaller patch pocket on its outer face and three pen pockets atop this, and a simple internal patch pocket on the left. Sleeves were reinforced with an extra layer of cloth at the elbow and the cuffs were fastened with concealed buttons. There was a small tab with two buttons each side to allow the waist to be drawn in.






The trousers, unlined, were of conventional design with reinforced seat, crotch and knees. The fly was of simple concealed four button type with inner and outer buttoned tabs at the waist, which had seven loops for a 50mm belt. There were three pairs of trouser pocket: conventional slant-type at the sides beneath the waist; internal sack type on the rear hips with single button apiece under the flap; and pleated cargo type with double button flap on each thigh. The hems were drawn in with a simple green lace running in a tunnel.


2009 Contract Uniform: This third (and last) production batch San Marco pattern uniform, supplied by our friends at East West Trading who had a quantity in recently, is of slightly more modern design and the camo fabric is printed both sides; the 1998 Contract Uniform fabric had a white background. For details of the camouflage pattern see below. Unlike the earlier uniform, which was issued with a Battaglione Marina ‘San Marco’ patch on the upper left sleeve and a single hook & loop strip for name tape attachment over the right chest pocket, this later jacket was issued with the Italian tricolour patch on the left sleeve and a Marina Militare tape over the left pocket. There are also hook & loop strip over right chest pocket and round hook & loop patch on the right upper arm. [Uniform manufacturers tell us the owners of the Velcro trademark take umbrage at the term velcro being used for similar / cheaper hook & loop type products.]






The 100% cotton shirt photographed here is of similar seven-button concealed fastening front closure design, and it also has a (smaller) tab and button arrangement behind the collar to allow it to be worn mandarin-style but the collar ends are rounded rather than pointed and the five-pointed star insignia is on a dark green tape rather than being embroidered in bright green thread. There are two chest pockets with bellowed bottom and trailing edges, which have concealed button top flaps noticeably slanted to allow easier access, but there are no lower cargo pockets to allow the shirt to be worn inside the trousers. On each upper arm there is a patch pocket with zipped access down the leading edge, and there is a similarly zipped internal patch pocket behind each chest pocket. Sleeves are reinforced at the elbow and hems can be drawn in with a tab and two buttons. There is a rank slide tab, with concealed button, in the middle of the chest.


In overall design the 2009 batch trousers are not too dissimilar from the 1998 production batch, but there are a couple of more modern tweaks plus these too are made from fabric printed on both sided with the distinctive camo pattern. The top pockets have a more pronounced straight cut slant to them, for easier access when seated in a vehicle, and the hems have elasticated drawcords with adjustment toggles. Unlike the jacket, which has hook & loop pocket flap fastening, these trousers still use concealed buttons but these are plain olive green rather than marbled green and tan.


San Marco Camouflage Pattern: Technically Marina Militare pattern but invariably called San Marco by collectors, this is a five-colour spattered-edge camo of essentially stone, sand, russet brown, olive green and black. That said, over the years some manufacturers appeared to use a very light green instead of stone base colour plus a fair bit of colour variation has been observed over the years, so one cannot be too specific. Additionally, earlier batches were made with a near white cotton fabric with colour only applied to one side so a degree of variation between earlier and later (double-sided) batches is only to be expected.
Seen on its own and in bright light the San Marco pattern can appear to be a little garish, but back in 2003 I photographed it outdoors against different backgrounds and in varying lighting and found it to be surprisingly effective in both urban and rural settings.
If interested in collecting one of these now historic Italian uniforms, try contacting the East West Trading team (number and email on their website) as they have recently started bringing mint condition examples into the UK.

[images © Bob Morrison]
[Model: EmmaC]
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