Antonio Oppes

Antonio Oppes, bronze medalist at the Roma Olympics in the jumping team event, was the son of Salvatore Oppes, a cattle breeder, and Paoletta Pittalis. Together with his brothers, he cultivated a passion for horses since he was a child.

Oppes had gone to boarding school in Sassari on Sardinia island and then enlisted in the Carabinieri, where he became a major marshal. A career non-commissioned officer, Oppes held the rank of Brigadier of the Royal Carabinieri when he was in East Africa and was one of the 58 survivors of the Battle of Culqualber. This battle was fought in Abyssinia (present-day Ethiopia) from 6 August to 21 November 1941 between the Italians and the British. It was a bloody battle in which the 1st Carabinieri Mobilized Group, under the command of the Carabinieri Major Alfredo Serranti, almost completely immolated itself. The valor and courage of the Carabinieri earned its few survivors tribute from their British opponents of the honor of arms.

Upon returning to his homeland after various territorial services, Oppes was assigned to the 4th Carabinieri Regiment on horseback where, with the Colonel of the Carabinieri Raimondo D’Inzeo and along with his brother Salvatore Oppes, he too an officer of the Carabinieri, they wrote a large part of the history of modern military riding.