Flag of Italy

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Flag of Italy

Use	National flag and state ensign.
Proportion	2:3
Adopted	January 1, 1948
Design	A vertical tricolour of green, white and red.
Use	Civil ensign.
Proportion	2:3
Design	A vertical tricolour of green, white and red, with the seal of the navy on center, but without the crown on the top and with the lion holding a book instead of a sword.
Use	Naval ensign.
Proportion	2:3
Adopted	A vertical tricolour of green, white and red, with the seal of the navy on center.

See also: List of Italian flags

The flag of Italy (often referred to in Italian as Il Tricolore) is a tricolour featuring three equally sized vertical bands of green, white and red, with the green at the hoist side.

Italian flag, Piazza Venezia, Rome

The first entity to use the Italian flag was the Cispadane Republic in 1797, after Napoleon's army crossed Italy. During this time, many small republics based on the Jacobian model, were formed and almost all used the French tricolour with different colours. The colours chosen by the Cispadane Republic were red and white, the colours of the Flag of Milan, and green which was the colour of the uniform of the Lombard Legion [1].

Some have tried to attribute some particular values to the colours and a common interpretation is that the green represents the countries plains and the hills; white, the snowy Alps; and red, the blood spilt in the Italian Independence wars. A more religious interpretation is that the green represents hope, the white represents faith and the red represents charity. This interpretation references the three theological virtues.

[edit] History

[edit] Pre-unitarian flags (until 1848)

When, in 1794 the French Army led by Napoleon Bonaparte entered Italy, both the new republic (Repubblica Transpadana, Transpadane Republic) and the military group attached to French army adopted flags similar to the Italian tricolour. The French viewed this flag as inspirational and welcoming (Yates). Probably, the colours have been chosen according to Legione Lombarda flag: it summed Milan city colours (red and white) to the green of Milan Civic Guard uniforms. The same colours were adopted by the Legione Italiana, formed by soldiers coming from Emilia and Romagna.

The first official Italian tricolour was adopted on 7 January 1797, in Reggio Emilia, as official flag of the Repubblica Cispadana (Cispadane Republic). It was a horizontal tricolour, with red (top), white and green stripes; in the middle, an emblem composed by a quiver, accolade to a war trophy, with four arrows that symbolized the four provinces forming the Po federation; all within a crown of bay.

1796 - flag of the "Repubblica Transpadana"	1797 - flag of the "Repubblica Cispadana"	1798 - flag of the "Repubblica Cisalpina"	1802 - flag of the Napoleonic "Repubblica Italiana"
1805 - flag of the Napoleonic "Regno d'Italia"

The eighteenth-century Sala del Tricolore, now site of the Reggio Emilia Town Council. Here, on 7 January 1797, the first tricolour of the Repubblica Cispadana was adopted.

The Repubblica Cispadana and the Repubblica Transpadana merged into the Repubblica Cisalpina (Cisalpine Republic), which adopted the vertical Italian tricolour without emblem in 1798, even if in a square shape. The flag was maintained until 1802, after the republic was renamed Repubblica Italiana (Italian Republic); in 1802 a new square flag was adopted, with a red field carrying a white rhombus and a green square in the middle of the white rhombus.

In 1799, the Republic of Lucca came under French influence, and adopted as flag a green-white-red horizontal tricolour, up to 1801.

In 1805, after Napoleon had crowned himself French Emperor, the Repubblica Italiana was transformed into the Regno d'Italia (Kingdom of Italy), ruled by Napoleon himself; the flag of the Regno d'Italia was the Repubblica Italiana flag in rectangular shape, with Napoleon's eagle on the central white square. This flag was in use until the abdication of Napoleon in 1814.

[edit] Independence and Kingdom of Italy

1848 - flag of the Kingdom of Sardinia (and from 1861 of the Kingdom of Italy), with Savoyan coat of arms in the centre.	1848 - The Bandiera di Stato (State Flag) of the Kingdom of Sardinia (and later Italy).	1848 - flag of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany during the First Italian Independence war. The flag bears the coat of arms of the Habsburg-Lorraine family, decorated with Italian tricolours; note, however, that the coat of arms bears the red-white-red flag of Austria, the opponent of Italian unification.	1848-49 - flag of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. It is the traditional flag of the Kingdom, white with Two Sicilies coat of arms, with red and green border.
1848-49 - flag of the Temporary Government of Venice. It is an Italian tricolour with a white canton bearing the lion of St. Mark.	1849 - war flag of the "Repubblica Romana". The state flag had no letters.	1860-61 - flag of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

Between the 1848 and 1861, a sequence of events led to the independence and unification of Italy (apart Venetian region, Rome, and Trento and Trieste, which were united to Italy in 1866, 1870 and 1918 respectively); this period is known as Risorgimento. Throughout this period, the tricolore was the symbol which united all the efforts of the Italian people towards freedom and independence.

[edit] 1848-1849

In 1848, many states in Italy changed their flags to reflect the commitment of all Italians to the independence of their motherland.

The Italian tricolour was adopted as war flag of Kingdom of Sardinia army: it contained Savoy royal house's coat of arms in the white stripe. In his Proclamation to Lombard-Venetian people, Charles Albert of Savoy said that … in order to show more clearly with exterior signs the commitment to Italian unification, We [Charles Albert] want that our troops … have the Savoy shield superimposed on the Italian tricolour flag. Since the Savoy coat of arms had a white cross that mixed with the white stripe of the Italian tricolour, a border was added to the shield, blue as the colour of the dynasty.

In the same year, the Granducato di Toscana (Grand Duchy of Tuscany) became constitutional, and dropped the Austrian flag with Austria-Lorraine great coat of arms, in favour of the Italian tricolour with a simplified coat of arms.

The flag of the Regno delle Due Sicilie (Kingdom of the Two Sicilies), which was white with the Borbonic seal in the middle, was modified through the addition of a red and green border. This flag lasted from April 3 1848 to May 19, 1849.

In the same year, Venetian people revolted against Austrian government, declaring the birth of the Venice Republic. The flag adopted marked the link to Italian independence and unification efforts; it was the Italian tricolour with, in the upper green canton, a white rectangle bordered with green/white/red colours and charged with the golden St. Mark's lion.

In 1849, Repubblica Romana (Roman Republic) adopted the Italian tricolour with (on the war flag) a double black 'R' on the white stripe.

The flag of the Kingdom of Italy. On the state flag the shield was crowned.

[edit] Kingdom of Italy 1861-1946

In 1860, a new version of the flag of the Regno delle Due Sicilie was adopted: the Italian tricolour with Borbonic seal on the white stripe. Adopted on June 21 1860, dismissed in March 1861, with the kingdom being incorporated into Regno d'Italia (Kingdom of Italy).

The war flag of the Italian Social Republic.

On 15 April 1861, Kingdom of Sardinia/Piedmont flag (the Italian tricolour with Savoy's coat of arms) is declared national flag of the newly-formed Regno d'Italia (Kingdom of Italy).

The Italian tricolour bearing the armorial bearings of the former Royal House of Savoy was the national flag for 85 years until the birth of the Italian Republic.

[edit] Italian Social Republic 1943-1945

The state flag of the World War II Nazi puppet state in Northern Italy, the Italian Social Republic, or Republic of Salò, was identical to the modern flag of the Italian Republic. The state flag was actually quite uncommon, while the war flag, which had a dark-grey eagle clutching fasces in the centre, was very common in propaganda.

[edit] Italian Republic

Standard of the President of the Italian Republic

In its current form, the Italian flag was adopted on 1 January 1948, with the introduction of the republican constitution, and the end of the rule of the House of Savoy over Italy. The Italian Constitution states (art. 12) that "The flag of the Republic is the Italian tricolour: green, white and red, in three vertical bands having equal dimensions". The universally adopted ratio is 2:3, while the war flags are squared.

The Italian Naval ensign is composed by the flag of Italy with a rostred crown and the Marina Militare emblem on the white third; the Merchant Navy (Marina Mercantile), use another version without the crown, and with the lion holding a book instead of a sword. The shield is divided into four squares representing the four great maritime republics of Italy: Venice (represented by the lion, top left), Genoa (top right), Amalfi (bottom left), and Pisa (represented by their respective crosses).

Also the President of the Italian Republic has an official standard. The current version is a squared blue flag, with in the middle the flag of the Italian Republic (Napoleonic), with the golden coat of arms of Italy on the green square.

[edit] Flag day

In 1997, on the second centenary of the tricolore, January 7 was declared "National Flag Day" (Law no. 671, December 31, 1996). It is a celebratory day, though not a paid holiday.

[edit] Colour specification

The shades chosen in 2003^[1]

In March 2003, after 207 years in service, the colours of the Italian flag were officially specified, but later changed, after hot debates on the chosen shades. As of 2006, the official Pantone textile colours are [2]:

17-6153 TC    (fern green)

11-0601 TC    (bright white)

18-1662 TC    (flame scarlet)

[edit] Similarities to other flags

Italian and Mexican flags.

Given the superficial similarities between the two flags, it may be surmised that the Italian flag formed the basis for the flag of Mexico and that the Mexican coat of arms positioned over the white portion is the only difference between the two. However, the Italian flag actually uses lighter shades of green and red. More important is that the two have different aspect ratios: The Italian flag's aspect ratio is 2:3, while the Mexican flag's aspect ration of 4:7 results in a more elongated rectangular shape.

Given its possible derivation from the flag of France, the Italian tricolore is similar to many flags of putatively similar origins. The Italian flag is also similar to the Flag of Ireland, which is green, white and orange (a tone very similar to the red used in the flag of Italy) but with different proportions (1:2 against 2:3), as well as to the Côte d'Ivoire flag, which is, rather, orange, white and green. Confusion also exists between the Italian flag and the current Flag of Hungary, the latter which has the same colours except that they are positioned horizontally with red on top, white in the middle and green on the bottom.

[edit] See also

• List of Italian flags
• Flags of regions of Italy
• Flags of Napoleonic Italy

[edit] References

• Italy at Flags of the World
• Law no. 671, December 31, 1996 (Italian)

[edit] External links

• Il Tricolore at the Italian Republic Presidency website
• Centro Italiano Studi Vessillologici (Italian)
• Commemorative stamp for the 200th anniversary of the Italian tricolour