Nicola Zanelli

Nicola Zanelli (* 1963 in Castelnovo ne 'Monti , Emilia-Romagna ) is a major general in the Italian army . He was the commander of the Special Forces Operations Command ( COFS ) of the Italian Armed Forces from 2016 to 2019 .

Military career

Zanelli was trained from 1982 to 1986 at the military academy in Modena and Turin and then initially served with the 9th Paratrooper Assault Battalion Col Moschin in Livorno . In 1993 he took part in a military operation in Somalia as a company commander with the 187th Paratrooper Regiment of the Folgore Paratrooper Brigade and was involved in heavy fighting in Mogadishu in early July 1993 . He then completed general staff training courses in Civitavecchia and the United Kingdom. As an exchange officer he served in the British 3rd Division and took part in a mission in Iraq with the British Army . In the Special Forces Operations Command (COFS) in Rome-Centocelle, which was set up by General Marco Bertolini at the end of 2004 , Zanelli was Deputy Chief of Operations. From September 2006 to October 2008 he commanded the 9th Col Moschin Paratrooper Assault Regiment in Livorno. After a brief assignment with the Army General Staff in Rome, he went to London at the end of 2009 as an Italian military attaché , where he was promoted to Brigadier General in 2012 . On his return to Italy, he was commissioned in the Airborne School in in September 2012 Pisa the Special Forces Command of the Army set up. On June 27, 2016, Zanelli took over as Major General from Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, command of Special Forces Operations (COFS) in Rome-Centocelle. On October 24, 2019, he handed over the COFS command to Air Force Major General Nicola Lanza de Cristoforis .

Zanelli is married and has three sons and a daughter.