The battalion was raised on 1 November 1886 by renaming Alpini Battalion "Valtellina" of the 5th Alpini Regiment. The battalion's name, like the names of all Alpini battalions raised before World War I, was the name of the location where the battalion was based; in the Tirano battalion's case the village of Tirano in the Valtellina valley. As with all Alpini battalions the recruits for the battalions were drafted exclusively from the area surrounding the battalions base. The battalion consisted of the 46th, 48th and 49th Alpini companies. 's retreat to Nikolayevka The Tirano battalion's history is intertwined with the history of the 5th Alpini Regiment, with which it served in World War I and in World War II. During the latter the regiment was part of the 2nd Alpine Division "Tridentina" and served in the Greco-Italian War and as part of the Italian Army in Russia on the Eastern Front, where regiment and battalion barely escaped annihilation during the Battle of Nikolayevka in January 1943. For its conduct during the two campaigns the 5th Alpini Regiment was awarded two Gold Medals of Military Valour. The 150 survivors of the Tirano battalion were repatriated in spring 1943 and garrisoned in the village of Mühlbach in South Tyrol. After Italy changed sides with the Armistice of Cassibile on 8 September 1943, regiment and battalion were disbanded by the Germans.
After World War II the 5th Alpini Regiment was reformed on 1 January 1953, in the city of Meran with the battalions "Tirano" and "Edolo", and was the infantry component of the Alpine Brigade "Orobica". During the 1975 army reform the 5th Alpini was disbanded on 30 November 1975 and its battalions came under the direct command of the Orobica brigade. As the traditions and war flag of the 5th Alpini Regiment were assigned to the "Morbegno" battalion, the Tirano battalion was granted a new war flag on 12 November 1976 by decree 846 of the President of the Italian RepublicGiovanni Leone. The two Gold Medals of Military Valour and the Messina earthquakeMedal of Merit awarded to the 5th Alpini Regiment, were duplicated for the new flag of the Tirano battalion, and the Bronze Medal of Civil Valour awarded to the Tirano battalion for its work after the Gleno Dam disaster was transferred from the flag of the 5th Alpini to the Tirano's flag. The battalion's structure on 1 December 1975 was as follows:
