Italian paratroopers commemorate Folgore Division at El Alamein

To mark the 84th anniversary of the Battle of El Alamein, members of the “Compagnia El Alamein” conducted a commemorative parachute jump in Egypt on October 17, 2026. The jump took place from two Egyptian Lockheed C-130 aircraft at an altitude of just over 500 meters, replicating the operational heights used during the 1942 conflict.

Six paratroopers from Piacenza—Alessandro Centenari, Pietro Coppelli, Carlo Dinicoli, Francesco Donetti, Luigi Sirocchi, and Emanuele Solari—were among the more than 100 participants in the initiative. The event is part of the El Alamein Project, an ongoing effort to honor the Italian Folgore Division and maintain the memory of those who fell during the battle.

Following the jump, participants visited the Italian War Memorial. The commemoration included a mass celebrated by the Folgore chaplain, Father Michele, who performed a tandem jump with the group. The project, overseen by the Society of Military Geology and Geophysics (SIGGMI), has organized these jumps annually since 2022 to preserve historical memory and values.