"Italian army uniforms 1859 1866" Topic

I realise this subject has been gone over before on here in some similar posts, and I've read those, read the books (apart from the bits in Italian), followed the links etc, but I'm still a bit confused by some parts and I wondered if anyone can help with some simple information please?
I'm doing Austrian, Neapolitan and Piedmontese forces in 6mm so fine details like collar tabs colours aren't really important.
I understand that the Austrians wore white kittels in the early wars but switched to grey greatcoats in the latter conflicts. I'm sticking with white right through so I can use them for Austro Prussian War as well as Italian Unification Wars.
As far as the Italian forces go I've seen paintings of Neapolitan infantry in white trousers. However there are also some in red ones, specifically the Grenadiers on Gringo 40s reference sheets. So my first question is, could all units wear red trousers, was it a winter or parade dress option? Or was it confined solely to Grenadier units, and if so how many Grenadier units were there? I've seen officers wearing red trousers, was this just officers of grenadiers or did all infantry officers wear red trousers?
I've painted my line infantry so far in white trousers for summer and as per the Gringo ref sheet. Gringo has light infantry in blue trousers, is this correct for all light infantry, and if so how many units were there?
I understand from sources that the Piedmontese were all clad in blue/black jackets and blue/grey trousers, was this the entire Piedmont infantry force, bar the Bersaglieri?
Finally any idea what colour uniform did Papal States forces wear,was it the same as the Neapolitan forces?
Any pearls of wisdom gratefully received as usual.

You should search for the images of Quinto Cenni. He drawn a series of plates in mid XIX century for the armies of italian peninsula.

link

However for Piedmontese army (Italian army from 1861) the infantry looked like here:

uniformology.com/G14.html

For Papal and Neapolitan states there are many italian language publications. Anyway you can start from here:

link

Neapolitan and Papal armies have swiss and zouvas regiments too which made them interesting. Their performances at Volturno and Castelfidardo were fair, their problem was the commanding echelon, not the troops values.

Thanks.
The link to the Papal and Neapolitan states dosn't work unfortunately.
I've seen the plates of Cenni. Again I don't speak Italian and you can't get a close up view of the script anyway so I'm none the wiser as to what I'm looking at here unfortunately apart from the fact that it is Neapolitan. I've assumed that Papal Zouaves looked pretty much like French Zouaves, is this correct? I wonder where can one find details of the Swiss uniforms?

If you do some searches on this site or browse the 19th century discussion board, you should be able to find what you need. I'm away with work and can't give you detailed information but I will try to help from memory.

The Papal Zouaves looked very similar to Fench zouaves, their uniform was either grey or greyish blue. Trim was either black or red depending on if it was an officer or rank and file. They wore a kepi style hat. Most Papal troops were a dark blue/grey greatcoat and light blue or red trousers. Headgear was a conical shako.

Neapolitan troops wore the madder red trousers in winter and white in summer but I don't know how regulated this was. I believe the Swiss in Neapolitan service wore grey or grey blue trousers.

If you can get your hands on the old Freicorps booklet titled Redshirts, it will give you all the uniform and organization info you need for the Italian states circa 1860.

Here are some links to pictures of 10mm figures I painted for Neapolitan troops:
link

Thanks Prince Alberts Revenge, that gets me a bit closer to my goal. Are your flags on the Neapolitans conjectural or based on something you've seen? Nicely done figs by the way.

Armies looked very diffrently at diffrent points in the Risognimento.

For example the 1859 and 1866 Piedmontese/ Unified Italian armies went to the field with slightly different uniforms. The Besarglieri wore dark blue on dark blue and no greatcoat. In 1860-1861 The Neapolitans, and in 1866, the Italians wore greatcoats on campaign. Uniformology, the site and company has some useful publications.

The Papal Army of 1867 was made of troops in uniforms similar to the French Army (Legion of Antibes),and Papal Zouaves in kepi and grey uniform in line, and bluish-gray for officers.

here are some images

Papal Zouaves

In Republican French service (uniforms would be the same, but flag would be pontifical)

Neapolitans

Piedmontese/Italians 1866

in parade uniform

Piedmont 1859

I'm glad you included the painting 3rd picture down K Travlos, because that throws up the anomolies I was referring to in my original post. There is an officer wearing red trousers at the end of the cannon's barrel. I was wondering about the trouser colour and whether he would be an officer of grenadiers perhaps? Also on the right hand side the soldier with the yellow collar tabs has white trousers and alight blue jacket, whilst those behind him wear dark blue/ blue grey greatcoats. There is another figure similarly attired next to the officer on the horse, and two more either side of the officer in the red trousers. They were obviously painted in lighter jackets deliberately, so I'm wondering what regt or branch of infantry they represent?
I think I'm going to settle on 1859 and just field my forces as they are for both conflicts, regardless of any alteration in uniform colour, as no is gonig to notice apart from myself and my gaming opponent and we aren't that pedantic about it.

As in most wars, you would have a variety of field dress. I do not know enough to answer your question but it might be a winter/summer/parade uniform thing, with lack of equipment leading to mixes.

Type esercito di Regno di Napoli or Due Sicilie 1860 and more images should show up.

I've assumed that there isn't an Osprey title that covers the uniforms of Piedmont, Napoli and Papal States etc for this era? I have the Austrian book but that's all I seem able to find. The Garibaldi book and the Second War of Unification volume don't have anything besides paintings of that era, something with uniform plates in the usual Osprey style would be handy.

No Osprey. There are Italian publications though that are Osprey like

link

link

explore more

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More
link

link

Neapolitans (Bourbons-Borbonico)

link

Thank you very much for those links. I've bought the first one already but wasn't aware of all the rest.

I managed to find a copy of Bitter Victory by John Pocock which provides excellent references for uniforms including some very nice colour illustrations besides b/w line drawings, and detailed descriptions of uniforms of all service branches.

If you are doing Neapolitans, the best reference I have seen is "L'Armata del Sud" by Gianni Custodero and Agostino Pedone. Lots of wonderful pictures from the 1840s
link

Anyone out there who has a copy of L'esercito Piemontese with the Bersaglieri on the cover, and who understands Italian, could you help with identifying who the two figures in Tavola 8 are please as there aren't any English translations in this book unlike the other volume.Many thanks in anticipation.