italian flag

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.

Meanings of the colors

The first entity to use the Italian flag was the Cispadane Republic in 1796, 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 colors and a common interpretation is that green is for the plains and the hills, white for the snowy Alps, and red for the blood spilt in the Italian Independence wars. A more religious interpretation is that green represents hope, white represents faith and red represents charity. This interpretation connects to the three theological virtues.

Similarities to other flags

Given its possible derivation from the flag of France, Italian tricolore is similar to many flags that have the same origin. Among others, the Italian flag is similar to the Flag of Ireland, which is green, white and orange, and to the Côte d'Ivoire flag, which is, on the contrary, orange, white and green.

Italy's flag is identical to the background of the flag of Mexico.

History

Pre-unitarian flags (until 1848)

When, in 1796, the French Army led by Napoleon Bonaparte entered into Italy, both the new republic (Repubblica Transpadana, Transpadane Republic) and the military group attached to French army adopted the flags similar to the Italian tricolor. Probably, the colors have been chosen according to Legione Lombarda flag: it summed Milan city colors (red and white) to the green of Milan Civic Guard uniforms. The same colors were adopted by the Legione Italiana, formed by soldiers coming from Emilia and Romagna.

The first Italian tricolor was adopted on 7 January 1797, in Reggio Emilia, as official flag of the Repubblica Cispadana (Cispadane Republic). It was a horizontal tricolor, 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.

The Repubblica Cispadana and the Repubblica Transpadana merged into the Repubblica Cisalpina (Cisalpine Republic), which adopted the vertical Italian tricolor without emblem in 1798, even if in a square shape. The flag was mantained 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 tricolor, up to 1801.

After Napoleon became emperor, in 1805, the Repubblica Italiana was turned into 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.

Independence and Kingdom of Italy

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.

1848-1849

As regards Italian flag history, 1848 is a very important year, since many states in Italy changed their flags to reflect the commitment of all Italians to their motherland independence.

The Italian tricolor 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 tricolor flag. Since the Savoy coat of arms had a white cross that mixed with the white stripe of the Italian tricolor, a border was added to the shield, blue as the color 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 tricolor 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 tricolor with, in the upper green canton, a white rectangle bordered with green/white/red colors and charged with the golden St. Mark's lion.

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

Kingdom of Italy - 1861-1946

In 1860, a new version of the flag of the Regno delle Due Sicilie was adopted: the Italian tricolor 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).

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

The Italian tricolor with Savoy's coat of arms was the Italian flag for 85 years, until the fall of the royal house of Italy.

Italian Social Republic - 1943-1945

The state flag of the Italian Social Republic was identical to the modern flag of the Italian Republic, while the war flag added a grey eagle clutching a fasces in the center.

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 tricolor: green, white and red, in three vertical bands having equal dimensions". The universally adopted ratio is 2:3, while the war flags are squared.

Italian military navy ensign is composed by the flag of Italy with a rostred crown and the Marina Militare emblem on the white third; merchant ships 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 flag. 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.

Flag day

In 1997, on the second centenary of the Italian tricolore, January 7 has been declared "national flag day" (law no. 671, December 31, 1996). It is a celebration, but working, day.

The colours specification

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

17-6153 TC   (fern green)

11-0601 TC   (bright white)

18-1662 TC   (flame scarlet)

The act to decree by law the "authentic" colors of the flag has been criticized by Alessandro Martinelli of Centro Italiano Studi Vessillologici (CISV) as lacking any historical meaning:

[It should be understood that] "flag colors, being, like arms' colors, symbols are not univocally and physically defined colors; they are rather "ideal" colors, whose perception is and has to be first of all intellectual. This general setup is at the basis of the chromatic system of the original Heraldry, that has never posed itself the problem of shades, in any way. The terms black, white, yellow, red, green, azure need in fact no further explanation to be fully understood.

The fundamental error does not lie in pointing out shades or, better, ranges of shades as a guideline for flag manifacturing; this is to some extent admissible: what is unacceptable is the willing to define univocally, and by law, the color with a unique Pantone number and estabilishing that one 'only' is the true flag. What's more, the adoption of the Pantone system, does not only pose undoubted practical limitations, but is most times deemed to remain a dead letter. A brand-new flag would be 'outlawed' within a few days because of the (although slight) discoloration caused by sunlight and atmospherical agents. Without taking into accounts the impossibility to find suitable materials in any corner of the world and under any circumstances."

See also

• Flags of regions of Italy

References

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

External links

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