IDF soldiers have been touring the Marche region to relieve their psychological stress (protected by the Italian Digos police unit)

By Stefania Maurizi and Ferruccio Sansa

“He wasn’t a guy like all the others, carefree like us as we sunbathed under our beach umbrellas. I realized that when I asked him to take a photo and he put his hand in front of his face: ‘no, no photos!,’ he almost shouted.” Valentina is a 22-year-old woman from Porto San Giorgio in the province of Fermo, and this is how she describes her encounters with Israeli soldiers in Italy. Yes, because in 2024 and 2025 groups of IDF soldiers have come to the Marche region for what they call a “decompression” period: in essence, after fighting for months, they are sent far away from the war theatre to alleviate their psychological stress.

According to testimony gathered by Il Fatto Quotidiano, they arrive in groups of ten or twenty on missions organized with the help of diplomatic channels or military organizations. Is there an official agreement between Italy and Israel? As we bring Palestinian children to Italy for treatment, are we also hosting those who shoot at them?

Their presence has been discreet, so much so that almost no one has noticed them. Not even the mayors of the cities and villages where they have stayed had been informed about them. Almost everyone thought they were tourists. Except Valentina: “That boy said his name was Omer, but one of his companions called him “Yosef”. But lots of things seem strange to me now: they were always together, they didn’t talk to the other people on the beach, as if they were following orders. And I will never forget that boy: his movements were mechanical. He spoke in jerks. Now I understand: he was a soldier. When I think back, I don’t know if I feel pity for him or just terrible anger.”

Decompression abroad is a proven technique: since the start of the war, which involves some 130,000 Israeli soldiers, there have been 3,770 cases of post-traumatic stress disorder and 16 suicides in 2025. This led to the creation of a network which books month-long stays abroad for veterans. The destinations are selected with care: secluded places surrounded by nature, so as not to end up in the spotlight and avoid the risk of catching notice. Secluded places like the Marche region’s Frasassi caves; the Sibillini mountains; Fiastra, where a lake nestles between the mountains, or Sirolo, a small village suspended above the sapphire blue sea of the Conero Riviera.

As “Il Fatto Quotidiano” reporters have been able to confirm, after checking in with Italian law enforcement agencies, the Israelis never moved around on their own. “They are always accompanied by Digos [Italian police unit] agents. It is not an escort service,” the authorities are keen to point out, “but a preventive protection service that we also provide in other cases.”

The soldiers, men between the ages of 20 and 30, do not stay in hotels or other facilities; they prefer private homes that accommodate two or three people at a time. It is impossible to know whether the documents provided contain their real identities. Their stay is organized according to precise schedules: “Sometimes they’d come to my bar in the evening. They all sat at the same tables. They looked like tourists,” says Luciano Sgambetterra, who also edits the local newspaper Inchiostro. His bar is one of the meeting places in Porto San Giorgio.

But in the end, their presence did catch attention. In June, media outlet Pressenza published the anonymous testimony of a guide from the Italian Association of Environmental Excursion Guides (Aigae): “A friend who is an Aigae guide saw a group of young people in Sirolo in December 2024, some of whom were wearing kippahs,” Pressenza reported, adding: “With them was an older man, an Italian whom the guide knew, a Digos agent.” Thus it was discovered that they were soldiers.

In Fiastra, they say that during the latest bicycle race, Giro d’Italia, the presence of military buses along the route caused concern that fans might target the Israelis. “We’ve never had any problem”, some say. But others speak of incidents in which the military showed themselves to be “undisciplined”. Il Fatto Quotidiano has talked to numerous environmental guides and tour operators, who confirmed that these tours have been going on since at least 2024 and continued in 2025, when the atrocities committed by the IDF were known to everyone.

Finally, there is a political issue yet to be clarified. The Marche region has set up a program for tourists interested in exploring the historic Jewish presence in the region. It is called Itinerari Ebraici Marchigiani. These projects cost €20,000 in 2024 and €10,000 in 2025. Were they also used for the ‘decompression’ tours for Israeli soldiers? When asked by Il Fatto, the Marche Region stated it was not aware of “the possible participation of Israeli soldiers in environmental tours included in the program”. In Porto San Giorgio and Fiastra, citizens did not take these tours well: “Israeli soldiers in our country? It is shameful that the authorities didn’t warn us”.

L'articolo IDF soldiers have been touring the Marche region to relieve their psychological stress (protected by the Italian Digos police unit) proviene da Il Fatto Quotidiano.