This article is mainly based on some of the chapters on this subject in the "Navi Italian" series of books, the Vitochart number 25 for Axis and Japanese Warship Camouflage Colors, information from some other publications, and a study of a lot of photos. Working thus from secondary sources it can only be a first approach to the subject but hopefully it will be useful to the modeler.

Like other navies of the time the Italian navy experimented with camouflage painting towards the end of WW I. After the war the Regia Marina returned to a standard light gray paint. Only torpedo boats had a dark gray over-all scheme into the late twenties. From the early thirties onwards the standard scheme for all Italian combatant ships was as follows.

Hull and upperworks - Grigio Azzuro Chiaro, (Light Blue-Gray)
Waterline - Nero, (Black).
Underwater hull - Rossa Mattone, (Brick Red), or - Verde Scuro, (Dark Green).
Decks, (steel), - Grigio Ferro, (Iron Gray) also known as, - Grigio Ponte, (Bridge Gray).
Decks, (wood), - Unpainted. (After the war began wood decks were painted over in Grigio Ferro).
Boats - Grigio Azzuro Chiaro with the lower hull Nero.
Interior walls - Verde Chiaro, (Light Green).
Command bridges - Blu Scuro, (Dark Blue).
Interior walls of gun turrets - Blu Scuro.
Anchors & chains - Nero.

After the Battle of Punta Stilo in the late summer of 1940, (when Italian warships came under attack from their own air forces), all Italian warships recieved oblique red and white stripes painted on the forecastie forward of the breakwater as a recognition marking for "friendly" aircraft. Some ships also had these stripes painted on the after deck. Shipboard biplanes had their top wings painted this way also. The angle of the stripes was either 45 degrees or, (more often), 60 degrees to the axis of the ship. This marking system was in use through the end of 1943.

In 1940 the Italians began testing camouflage designs based initially on patterns from previous experience in WWI. A few small auxiliaries were used for this purpose. The first major fleet units to receive camouflage patterns were the BB LITTORIO, CA FIUME, and the submarine MILLO in the spring of 1941. These were followed by the BB DUIUO, CL ATTENDOLO, and BB VITTORIO VENETO, all in early-to-mid 1941. The ATTENDOLO pattern was designed by the famous naval artist Claudus. It was a multi-colored scheme, a variation of which was adapted to the battleships ANDREA DORIA and GIULIO CESARE in late 1941. Colors were Azzuro Opaco, Grigio Chiaro Opaco, and Nero. CONTE DI CAVOUR in late 1941 also used this scheme with another panel of Bianco Sporco Opaca added to the pattern. By the end of 1941 camouflage became usual for the ships of the Regia Marina. It would seem that all warship types from destroyers upwards carried a camouflage pattern at one time or another. At first there was an experimental phase, (late 1941 - early 1942), where many colors were used. These were:

Bianco Sporco Opaco - (Foul Flat White).
Grigio Chiaro - (Light Gray).
Gregio Cenerino - (Ash Gray).
Gregio Scuro - (Dark Gray).
Grigio Molto Scuro - (Very Dark Gray).
Nero - (Black).
Bianco Vedastro Opaco - (Flat Greenish White) = Verde Chiarissimo.
Verde Chiaro - (Light Green).
Verde Scuro - (Dark Green). Giallo Verde - (Yellow-Green).
Giallo - (Yellow). Azzuro - (Blue).

Then, in the summer of 1942, the first standard painting instructions appeared. These consisted of 3-color design schemes using: Bianco Sporco Opaco - Grigio Chiaro - Grigio Scuro. They consisted of areas of light and dark gray with dull white areas at the bow and stern to make the ship appear to be shorter. Usually port and starboard sides had different patterns. With some ships the light areas at bow and stern were first painted in Bianco Vedastro Opaco, later being painted over in Bianco Sporco Opaco. Many ships also had false bow waves in Bianco Sporco Opaco. Late in this phase of camouflage development most ships had the white portions at bow and stern repainted in light gray and integrated into the camouflage pattern.

In 1943 a second generation of official paint standards appeared. These were generally of 2-tone patterns using Grigio Chiaro and Grigio Scuro. The identification letters on destroyers and torpedo boats generally remained in place even after the ship was camouflaged. In some cases the color was changed to Grigio Chiaro or Bianco, (White), to allow them to blend into the camouflage scheme.

During 1944, (cobelligerency period), those Italian ships that fought for the allies were painted in a standard scheme in accord with the USN Measure 22 or Royal Navy Admiralty Standard design. The hull was in Grigio Scuro, upperworks in Grigio Chiaro. Those ships under German control initially retained their Italian camouflage paint. Later many were repainted overall with Gregio Scuro or other dark grays.

After the war many of the surviving units retained their wartime painting into 1948. Light gray upperworks and dark gray hull was a common scheme as was light or dark gray overall. In 1948 the Italian Navy returned to the pre-war standard of Grigio Azzuro Chiaro overall with Red identification letters. The I.D. letters were replaced by NATO pennant numbers after 1953.

The Italian names for the colors used in this article are from Italian publications dealing with this subject. I do not know if these are the official designations. The Vitocharts in part use other names for some of the colors but the names used here are consistent with all the other sources I consulted. It seems that there were also systems using letters and numbers identifying the paints. The numbers in these listings give the year of introduction. I found indications for listing for the years (19)10, 17, 24, 29, 37, 38, 40, and 42. It seems very unlikely that the colors really differed or changed from one listing to the next. Probably every change in adminstrative instructions brought a change in the numbers on the color lists. The color itself was designated by a letter. Unfortunately there appears to have been no logical system for the letter designations. Some colors had a prefix, SP, which indicated that they were experimental. For example, LITTORIO and FlUME received an experimental scheme consisting of SP 4213, (a blue/green), SP 42C, (a gray/green named Grigio Ferro), and SP 42F, (a olive color named Verde Oliva Minetico). The 37B color, (Gregio Ponto), later became 42G and seems to be the standard color used for decks and bridges, which was also known as Grigio Ferro. It is all very confusing. From 1943 there was a designation system in use consisting of the letter prefix CL and the combination of a cypher and a letter. In this area there is need for much additional research.

Another problem arises when trying to give the exact shades of the various paints. There are indeed some fine color chips contained in the Vitochart No.25 Axis and Japanese Warship Colours but I strongly doubt that they are entirely correct. Oddly enough they state German color designations as well as the Italian and Japanese ones for nearly all of the color chips. It is highly unlikely that any of the colors were exactly the same and surely there were no common regulations on camouflage matters between the axis powers. On the other hand, there is no blue/gray chip that could be a match for Grigio Azzuro Chiaro. I personally believe that they simply took the German colors for that Vitochart and tried to correlate them to possible Italian and Japanese paint colors. This source is therefore very questionable.

During recent years I have had the opportunity to see modern Italian warships up close. They still carry a light blue/gray paint with red pennant numbers. This paint has the strange characteristic of looking almost white in bright sunlight and looking true blue/gray under cloudy skies or in darkness. It is highly probable that this color is very close to the long-time standard Grigio Azzuro Chiaro, which also appeared almost white in photos taken in the bright Mediterranian sun and looked noticably darker in the few photos that were taken under overcast skies. As it is a very light color I suggest a mix of equal parts Humbrol 127 and Humbrol 34. This color shows the same charactistics under varying light conditions.

As far as I can determine there was no differrence between the peacetime Grigio Azzuro Chiaro and the wartime camouflage color Grigio Chiaro, which may indicate that these names are more descriptive of the color rather than being official designations. The Tauro company in their reissued kits of FIUME and her sisters suggest FS numbers for FIUME's camouflage scheme of March 1944: Grigio Chiaro = FS 16314, Grigio Scuro = FS 16099. In my opinion these are very good matches. Grigio Cenerino was a equal mix of Grigio Chiaro and Grigio Scuro. Grigio Molto Scuro was apparently a mix of Grigio Scuro and Nero, (black). Thus the Grigio range, which was the main range of color in use, can be matched with a degree of reliability. The other colors, particularly the experimental ones, will have to be guessed at from b/w photos, paintings, and descriptions, until more reliable documention appears. The following is a listing of suggested colors and color mixes for the Italian colors listed in this article. I wish to repeat that this article should be considered a first approach to the subject. If there are any errors or misinterpretations, (supported by documentation), I would like to know about them. We would welcome any additional facts or information on this subject.

ITALIAN CAMOUFLAGE COLOR CHART
Color designation	Humbrol	Revell	Floquil
Bianco	H34	-	818698
Grigio Chiaro	H127+H34	-	303197
Grigio Cenerino	-	R47	303247
Grigio Scuro	H32	-	110132
Grigio Molto Scuro	-	R78	110017
Nero	H33	-	818602
Bianco Vedestro Opaco	H90	-	303147
Verde Chiaro	H78+H34	-	-
Verde Scuro	H86	-	303159
Giallo Verde	H81 +H122	-	-
Gaillo	H69	-	110356
Azzuro	H89	-	303090
Grigio Ferro	-	R77	-
Rossa	H60	-	303055

Floqull colors are the closest possible out of the bottle.
Thanks to David Veres for the Floquil matches.

This article originally appeared in Plastic Ship Modeler 1995/3 and is reprinted here with the permission of the author and editor.