Vincenzo Garioni (19 November 1856 – 24 April 1929) was an Italian general who saw combat in the Boxer Rebellion, Italo-Turkish War, and World War I. He was the governor of Tripolitania from 1913 to 1914 and later served as the governor of both Tripolitania and Cyrenaica from 1918 to 1919.
The Italo-Turkish War with the Ottoman Empire broke out in September 1911 when Italy invaded Libya, and Garioni participated in the war as commanding officer of the 5th Special Division, which included the 11th ‘’Bersaglieri’’ Regiment, 60th Infantry Regiment, 1st GrenadierBattalion, 28th ‘’Bersaglieri’’ Battalion, 6th and 7th Eritrean Battalions, three artillerybatteries, and an engineeringcompany, divided into two columns, one under the command of General Clemente Lequio and the other under Colonel General (later General) Alberto Cavaciocchi. Along with another veteran of the Boxer Rebellion, Luigi Agliardi, Garioni was assigned the task of conquering Zuwarah and Ghadames in western and northwestern Tripolitania on the border with Tunisia.[1] During the campaign, he led the occupation of Sidi Said at the end of June 1912, then took the hill Sidi Alì, 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) east of Sidi Said, on 14 July 1912. On 15 August 1912 he moved inland and conquered Sidi Abd el-Samad, 8 kilometres (5 mi) from Zuwarah. Another column led by General Tullio Tassoni then arrived to assist his troops.
The war ended in Italy’s defeat of the Ottoman Empire in October 1912, and one of its results was the addition of the provinces of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica to the Italian Empire. In June 1913, Garioni was appointed governor of Italian Tripolitania, a position he held until the end of 1914, when he obtained command of the VII Army Corps in Ancona. In January 1915, the VII Army Corps brought relief to Avezzano and Fucino after they suffered severe damage in a major earthquake on 13 January.
On 5 August 1918 Garioni again became governor of Tripolitania as well as governor regent of Cyrenaica. He arrived in Tripoli in Tripolitania on 18 August 1918 tasked with crushing an Arab revolt. After the Allied defeat of Ottoman and German Empire forces in the Battle of Megiddo in Palestine in September 1918 and of Austria-Hungary in the Battle of Vittorio Veneto on the Italian front in late October and early November 1918, Ottoman and German military advisers to the Arab rebel forces in Tripolitania and Cyrenaica abandoned them, leaving them torn by internal strife. Arab rebel attacks against Italian garrisons in Tripolitania and Cyrenaica declined, allowing Garioni to seize the initiative and put down the rebellion.
Relinquishing both governorships on 17 May 1919, Garioni returned to Italy. He retired from active service that year and died at Venice on 24 April 1929.
