The entire team is made up of 48 people, with the squad being lead by manager Lieutenant Colonel Walter Borghino.
Italy has participated in all four rounds of the Invictus Games thus far, with the team’s total medal count standing at 24.
This year they will once more battle it out on the field, as ex-servicemen and women of the Belpaese, doing themselves and the country proud.
But it’s not all about winning or medals.
The biggest success is making it to the games at all.
Simply participating is a victory!
These wounded personnel have the opportunity to live two exciting weeks of competition and community, alongside other wounded, injured or ill servicemen and women from across the globe.
New friendships will be forged between athletes and families alike.
The Invictus Games is unique in that friends and family play a hugely important role in the event.
Their constant presence and support is vital in achieving the long-term goal of physical and mental recuperation within the participants.
Athletes have the opportunity to make friends, not only between themselves, but by connecting with those loved ones who stand in support around them.
We do not let them alone on the battlefield; we will neither let them out of the playground.
The Italian Invictus athlete team consists of members of the Gruppo Sportivo Paralimpico della Difesa, which was founded in 2014 following ratification of an agreement between the minister of defence and the Italian Paralympics committee.
The Italian defence services committed to providing rehabilitation amongst permanently injured ex-servicemen and women.
Participation in the extraordinary sports event can help ex-servicemen and women to stay strong, and find it within themselves to take the reins of their life once more.
All ex-military members have the opportunity to sign up to the Role of Honour, whereby those who meet the prerequisites can represent the nation once more, no longer in military service but dressed in the famed blue and white Italian tracksuit.
It’s an opportunity which provides a source of pride for many former servicemen and women.
It gives those willing and able the chance to express their continued loyalty to the oath which swore them in in earlier years.
From the moment they enter the Gruppo Sportivo Paralimpico della Difesa, participating athletes don the tracksuit to take part in the parade on June 2 at the Festa della Repubblica, where they are welcomed with grand applause.
The Captain of the group is Liutenant Colonel Gianfranco Paglia (recipient of The Gold Medal of Military Valour), who was wounded on July 2, 1993, during the Battle of Checkpoint Pasta in Somalia.
This year, high hopes rest with Liutenant Colonel Fabio Tomasulo from the Italian Airforce, a prime candidate in archery.
The team consists of the following 17 athletes: Marco Iannuzzi, Fabio Tomasulo, Francesco Mottola, Simone Careddu, Luca Cornacchia, Pellegrina Caputo, Monica Contrafatto, Bonaventura Bove, Loreto Di Loreto, Massimo Sapio, Piero Suma, Antonio Auricchio, Alessandro Recita, Massimo Chiappetta, Angelo Corsaro, Giuseppe Spatola and Raffaele Di Luca.
