The prototype gas mask made by Amedeo Herlitzka was the first known gas mask prototype made in Italy intended for military use.
Overview
Herlitzka prototype sketch
After the first use of gas at Ypres, every european country needed to develop protection from chemical attacks. The Italian Army staff ordered for the Commissione Gas Asfissianti (asphyxiating gasses commission) to be formed in 1915. Other than working on gasses to be used, the commission worked on protective devices against those aforementioned agents. Amedeo Herlitzka proposed a panoramic gas mask with a hopper in the front that if filled with blocking substances would act as the filter. To find those blocking substances, Herlitzka built a special apparatus in which gasses were tested against various materials.
Amedeo Herlitzka's substance testing apparatus
Herlitzka prototype from the back