marmittone

Born in the middle of the Fascist era on January 28, 1928 from the pencil of Bruno Angoletta, Marmittone represents antimilitarism par excellence, as it ridicules all the absurdities of the rigid military discipline. Published in the Corriere dei Piccoli, the illustrated supplement of the Corriere delle Sera, Marmittone continued to appear on newsstands until 1940, the year in which Italy entered the war.
The term marmittone, comes from the pot that was used to cook the ration of the soldiers, but which in military jargon, has taken on the meaning of inexperienced and inadequate recruit.
The little soldier fully responds to the requirements of the classic slap, as both for bad luck and for a good dose of carelessness he always finds himself causing a sea of ​​trouble and for this reason to end the story, among the bars of the military prison.
In one episode, Marmittone is entrusted with the task of crossing a barbed wire barrier, which prevents crossing the enemy camp. Using the layout of a map, Marmittone together with the other soldiers decide to dig an underground tunnel, to stem that obstacle. Dig, dig believes that the time has come to begin vertical excavation, to rise to the surface. To his amazement, he realizes that he has dug in the wrong direction, so much so that he emerges inside the Colonel's bedroom, who is furiously locked up in prison, where Marmittone will meditate on his error.
In another Marmittone episode, he will have to practice marching on the snow, along with his troop. Assigned to him the task of leader, he will have to stay ahead of everyone to open the passage, but when the climb becomes steeper, the poor Marmittone will slide on the ice, tumbling backwards and overwhelming the whole company, including Colonels and Generals. Marmittone will then be punished, with four months in prison.
The ingenuity of Marmittone is such that one day he will mistake the porter of a cinema, adorned with uniform and braids, for a military general, while when the trumpet of silence sounds, his tiredness will be such, that he begins to sleep and sing in the sleep. When stoner tries his hand as a paratrooper, to land in the enemy camp, he will do everything right except that after landing, he will be wrapped and imprisoned by his own parachute. The enemies will only have to capture it beautiful and ready packed. Marmittone was the character who started the humorous comics about the military, which boasts a large group of successors: from the American Beetle Bailey, to the Italian Sturmtruppen.

Marmittone and all names, images and registered trademarks are Copyright © Corriere dei Piccoli, Bruno Angoletta and those entitled to it. they are used here for cognitive and informative purposes.