Colonel of the Carabinieri Ruggiero CAPODIVENTO was born in Fabriano (AN, Italy) on 24th July 1963.
He joined the Carabinieri Corps on 25th February 1983 and at the end of the period of training at the Military Academy of Modena and the Officers’ School of Rome, on 1st September 1986 he was promoted Second Lieutenant. On 1st September 1988 he was promoted Lieutenant and the same year was appointed commander of a Platoon of cadets at the Carabinieri NCO School of Florence. From 1990 to 1991 he is the commander of the Criminal Investigation Team of the Carabinieri Company of Mestre (VE, Italy). On 1st September 1991 he is promoted to Captain and the same year he is appointed commander of the Carabinieri Company of Reggio Emilia. In 1997 he takes office as the commander of the Carabinieri Company of Pozzuoli (NA, Italy). On 31st December 2000 he is promoted to the rank of Major and in 2002 he takes office as Section Commander at the Officers’ School of Rome. From 2004 to 2009 he is a staff officer at General Defence Staff where, on 31st December 2005, he is promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. On 1st January 2009 he is promoted to Colonel and the same year is assigned to the Training Schools’ Command in Rome as departmental chief. In 2013 he takes office as the Carabinieri provincial commander of Treviso and from October 2016 he is the Chief of Staff of the “TOSCANA” Carabinieri Legion in Florence. On 5 October 2020 he leaves the position of Chief of Staff to be appointed as the Deputy Commander of the same unit.
On 9th February 1993 he graduated in Law at Macerata University; he has a First Level Degree in Security Sciences acquired on 5th May 2003 at Rome Tor Vergata University; a Second Level Degree in Security Sciences, acquired on 22nd July 2003; on 16th July 2004 he obtained a Master’s Degree in Strategic Sciences at Turin University. Since 7th October 1999 he is a registered lawyer.
On 28th November 2005 he received a commendation from the Defence Chief of Staff; on 7th September 2007 he received an encomium from the Defence Chief of Staff; on 15th October 2007 he received an encomium from the Army Deputy Chief of Staff; on 8th October 2008 he received a commendation from the Defence Chief of Staff; on 8th October 2000 he received a commendation from the Defence Chief of Staff.
On 30th April 1997 he was awarded the commemorative medal for the operations relating to the floods in northern Italy of 1994; on 17th September 1997 he was nominated “Knight of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre”; on 31st October 1997 he was awarded the medal of merit for the “UMBRIA-MARCHE” emergency of 1997; on 20th January 1998 with a papal bull signed by His Holiness Pope John Paul II he was nominated “Knight of the Order of St. Sylvester”; on 30th April 1999 he was awarded the NATO medal for operations in Kosovo; on 31st October 1997 he was awarded the medal of merit for the earthquake that hit the provinces of Reggio Emilia and Modena in 1986; on 29th February 2000 he received the “Cross with Swords” of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta; on 30th April 2000 he was awarded the NATO medal for operations in Ex Yugoslavia; on 12th July 2002 he was honoured with title of “Knight of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George”; on 14th July 2010 he received a foreign award for peacekeeping; on 2nd July 2010 with a Decree of the President of the Republic of Italy he was honoured with the title of “Knight of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic”.
From 17th October 2012 to 22nd January 2013, he was deployed to Kochi (India) for the mission dealing with the international controversy of the “Enrica Lexie case”.
From September 2018 he has been the 20th Commander of the Multinational Specialized Unit of KFOR. He ended his service as KFOR-MSU Commander on October 2019 and he was awarded with the Kosovo Medal of Merit from the Kosovo Police and the Minister of Internal Affairs Ekrem Mustafa and the Presidential Military Medal, the highest Kosovo military decoration, from the President Hashim Thaçi. From January 2022 to May 2022, he has been the Commander of the MIADIT 16, deployed in Gibuti, a military mission with the aim to train the Somali Armed Forces alongside the local security forces
SPECIALIZATIONS: management training; 1st, 2nd and 3rd module of the course for “Legal Advisor for Armed Forces”; NATO Military Officer Planning Course; specialization course in “Administration and Finance of Local Authorities” taken at “Federico II” University in Naples; 1st course for instructors at the Carabinieri Officers’ School of Rome; he is a qualified parachutist; he is qualified in “emergency shooting”; he has a boating licence; he has a certified level of proficiency in English; from 4th September to 25th June 2004 he attended the “Superior Joint Staff Course” (ISSMI).
He is married with Marina Sarita MAGI and has two children.