The Lagunari (from the Italian "laguna" = lagoon) are amphibious troops of the Italian Army. Today's Reggimento Lagunari Serenissima amphibious assault regiment has its headquarters in Mestre, a borough of Venice, and in the present day they are still subordinate to the Pozzuolo del Friuli Cavalry Brigade. The lagunari tend to be a very mobile attack force, high-powered weaponry, and tactical skills. They are trained to attack from the water and to establish a beachhead, which is an area of control on foreign territory.
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During the Cold War, the regiment was stationed in the lagoon-rich south flank of the northeast Italian front. The Lagunari Regiment focused more on yesterday's high intensity, conventional battlefields, such as those expected during the Cold War. Nowadays, it has been replaced by the more probable mid- and low intensity conflicts. The Lagunaris have the ability to be projected to any hostile area around the globe due to their maneuverability.The Lagunari Regiment is versatile enough to be capable in conducting special operations under 'unconventional' methods while engaging on a 'conventional' battlefield. Today the Lagunari are intended for international missions, particularly in coastal regions and in areas rich in inland waterways. The Lagunari Regiment is a maritime-focused, amphibious, highly specialised light - medium force capable of deploying at short notice in support of the Italian military and diplomatic objectives overseas and are optimised for expeditionary warfare: operational situations requiring highly manoeuvrable, normally amphibious, forces. As the Italian Army' specialists in riverine operations the Regiments provide assets and expertise for these unique operations.
The regiment consists of a staff unit (Malcontenta di Mira - Mestre) and supply company (Mestre), an amphibious transportation company (Sant'Andrea Island, near Venice) and a battalion of naval infantry. The naval infantry battalion is organized like a infantry battalion with VTLM multipurpose vehicles. The special company includes landing boats and smaller speedboats as well has AAV7 amphibious assault vehicles. The Lagunari Regiment fulfills a vital role in the Italian army as an amphibious, expeditionary task force, capable of forcible entry from the land and sea. It is capable of asymmetric warfare with conventional, irregular, and hybrid forces.
The Lagunaris have a proud history and unique traditions. The Italian Lagunari are the heirs to the embarked troops of the Republic of Venice. In 1964, the Head of the Italian Army entrusted to the “Serenissima” Lagunari Regiment the formal heritage of this centuries-old history of valour and courage. Today, the military insignia on the uniforms and the traditions in the regiment are those of the proud Venetians' amphibian troops. The birth of the embarked troops of Venice goes back to the time of the fourth crusade when the Doge “Enrico Dandolo” put together one “Regiment ” from ten companies distributed on the warships of the Venetian fleet, and then employed them in the two captures of Constantinople (Bisanzio - 1203/1204). The embarked troops of Venice had their final organisation in 1550 becoming the “Fanti da Mar” (Infantry of the sea) and they distinguished themselves during all the wars that the Republic of Venice fought against the Ottoman Empire, especially during the sieges of Famagosta and Candia, and in the great victory in the battle of Lepanto. This heritage still survives in the spirit and the traditions of the current Lagunari.
In 1951, the Italian army raised the unit of Lagunari. It was a unit of amphibious infantry. The Italian 5th Army Corps saw a need for flank security adjacent to its land front. An amphibious unit was necessary due to the nature of the marshy terrain and many small islands. Up to the army reforms in 1975, the Lagunari Regiment consisted of several battalions (including armour unit). Afterwards, it was reduced to two Lagunari’s battalions: "Serenissima" and "Sile" and one Command (command of the amphibious troops of the Army) which carried on the traditions of the regiment. In 1992, regiments were re-instituted putting the previous combat units in one. The regiment was subordinate to the 5th Army Corps. Afterwards it came under the "Protection Forces Command" in Milan and then to the above-mentioned Pozzuolo del Friuli Brigade.
Even today, the Lagunari benefit from strong local support in the Venice area (from which they had traditionally been recruited). They are now intended for international missions and are to be used particularly into inland water-rich areas and sea operations. Plans to integrate the Lagunari into an amphibious brigade containing all Italian naval infantry, including the San Marco Regiment failed in the 1990s, partly because of the distance between bases - Venice to Brindisi.
In 2006, to establish closer cooperation between the two regiments, a common operations staff (‘‘ Forza Nazionale di Proiezione dal Mare ‘‘) was established in Brindisi. The Italian navy can, if necessary, fall back on the Lagunari and other support forces of the army. The San Marco regiment can also come within the scope of land operations under army control. Both organizations were used together for the first time, with support forces, in the UNIFIL operations after the 2006 Lebanon war as part of the international mission (as part of the Early Entry Force, September 2006).