Description

The Vigili del Fuoco, (literally the word "Vigili" comes from the Latin word "Vigiles", which means "who is part of certain guards") have the official name of Corpo Nazionale dei Vigili del Fuoco (CNVVF, National Firefighters Corps). It is Italy's institutional agency for fire and rescue service. The Corps' task is to provide safety for people, animals and property, and to give technical assistance to industries and fire prevention advice. It also ensures public safety in terrorist emergencies such as chemical, bacteriological, radiological and nuclear attacks.

The first public firefighting organization in the world was probably the "Vigiles", a military structured body with fire control and rescue duties that protected the city of Rome in the early centuries A.C. Their name has been adopted some 19 century later for the new Italian national firefighters organisation. The CNVVF, initially fragmented in various municipal bodies, was established as such by the Royal Decree of 27 February 1939, later converted into Law 1570 of December 27, 1941, and was initially called "to protect the personal safety and the salvation of things, by preventing and extinguishing fires and the provision of technical services in general, including those related to air defense."