Umberto Masotto (1864-1896) was an Italian Captain who served in the First Italo-Ethiopian War. He commanded the 4th Mountain Artillery Battery during the Battle of Adwa but was more famously known for being the first field gunner to receive the Gold Medal of Military Valour.

The Battle of Adwa was the climactic battle of the First Italo-Ethiopian War. The Ethiopian forces defeated the Italian invading force on Sunday 1 March 1896, near the town of Adwa. The decisive victory thwarted the campaign of the Kingdom of Italy to expand its colonial empire in the Horn of Africa. By the end of the 19th century, European powers had carved up almost all of Africa after the Berlin Conference; only Ethiopia and Liberia still maintained their independence. Adwa became a pre-eminent symbol of pan-Africanism and secured Ethiopian sovereignty until the Second Italo-Ethiopian War forty years later.