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by Antonio Martins , 23 April 1999
Flag adopted 19 June 1946, coat of
arms adopted 5 May 1948.
See also:
There is not an undoubted answer regarding the meaning of the
colors of the italian flag . However the most valid hipothesis is
the one made by V. Fiorini, the colors came from the colors of
the uniforms of the Civic militia of Milan. These were green and
white (so people called them "remolazzitt" (small
radish)) and some red parts were added on 19 August 1796 when the
Militia become the National Guard.
In October of the same year the Lombard Legion was constituted,
and it adopted an uniform of the same colors and in orders issued
the day 9 October (art. IX), it was stated that "each Cohort
will have its National tricolored Lombard standard,
differentiated by number, and ornate with the emblems of Liberty".
Napoleon himself described the colors : "... the national
colors to adopt are the green, the white and the red" (On
the message to the Direttorio of 11 October 1796 for the
constitution of the Lombard Legion) These standards had the
colors vertically displayed with the green at the hoist and they
were the very first model of the Tricolore, but only as a
military flag.
The first true national flag that used the colors horizontally
displayed is the Cispadana Republic flag. This flag was adopted
on 7 January 1797 and had the red at the top, the white in the
middle, charged with the coat of arms, and the green at the
bottom.
On 17 July 1797 the Cispadana and the Transpadana republics were
united as the Cisalpine republic which, on 11 May 1798,
officially adopted the Tricolore which is today italian flag (the
flag was already in use at least since January 1798).
We can so say that the model of the italian flag came from the
french Tricolore, while its colors came from the uniforms, like
those of many german States.
In 1802 the Cisalpine republic was transformed into the Italian
republic and on 20 August a new flag was adopted. The new design
was of the kind of the napoleonic military flags: on a red field
a white lozenge over which a green rectangle. On March 1805 the
republic changed to kingdom
and a golden napoleonic eagle was added on the green field of the
flag.
The Tricolore, charged with the Savoia shield in the center,
became in 1848 the national flag of the Kingdom of Sardinia and,
in 1861 of the Kingdom of Italy. The State flag and the war
ensign included the Savoia crown over the shield. Finally, on 19
June 1946, the plain Tricolore became the flag of the Italian
republic. With decree of 9 November 1947, In order to avoid
confusion with the mexican flag at sea, two different coat of
arms were added to the civil and war ensigns.
Mario Fabretto , 3 October 1997
I found in a Napoleonian Web page the following explanations
by Pr. F. Frasca (Universita La Sapienza, Roma):
"Albert Pingaud, in his book 'Bonaparte president de la
Republique Italienne', proposed three hypotheses for the choice
of the green colour:
- Bonaparte himself advised or imposed the green colour as the
Corsican colour. Later, he used green for his House.
- Green was, before the Revolution, the base of the uniforms of
the City militia in Milano.
- Green was considered as the Italian colour. This appears in an
official note, dated 1805, written for the creation of the Order
of the Iron Crown.
- Green might represent the idea that the vegetation growth is
more profuse in Italy than in the Northern countries." (my
own translation from French text).
Ivan Sache , 21 July 1997
The flag is for national, government and military use in land
and for government use at sea.
For private use at sea there is an ensign similar to the national
flag, but carrying a shield on the white strip with the four
symbols of the so-called "Sea Republics" (Repubbliche
Marinare) of Italian tradition: first quarter Venice (St.
Mark's winged lion holding a book), second Genoa (a red-on-white
cross), third Amalfi (Maltese white cross on dark blue) and
fourth quarter Pisa (peculiar-shaped white cross on red).
Navy carries the same flag, but the lion holds a sword instead of
a book and the whole shield is crowned. These flags are official
since 9th November 1947.
Alessio Bragadini
Until the end of WW II, the Italian flag always had the Savoy
coat of arms in the center (without the crown: Merchant, with the
crown: naval ensign) {so there was no confusion at sea}. After
the war, the plain tricolor was adopted as the national flag, but
in order to avoid confusion with the Mexican merchant flag, the
new Italian coat of arms was placed in the center of the Italian
merchant flag (again with no crown.)
Nick Artimovich, 16 March 1998
As far as the usage of the Navy flag versus the private use at
sea is concerned, the lion holding a sword (St. Mark's Lion) have
a book as well, but in this case the book is closed. The reason
for is that in the open book you can read the Latin sentence
"PAX TIBI MARCE EVANGELISTA MEUS" (Peace to you Mark,
my Gospel writer), so in war time the Republic of Venice was not
allowing to read "peace" as the first word. Actually,
the two versions of the Naval Jack are embedding the two
different Venetian flags so maintaining their origin usage.
Fabio Pasello , 15 Septemnber 1999
A beautiful photo of the Italian naval ensign (warning : 293
Kb) can be seen at: http://www.i-2000net.it/military/images/Bandiera.jpg
Dov Gutterman , 31 January 1999
by Jaume Olle',
26 July 1996
Italian jack is a square banner of the arms appearing on the
naval ensign. The Amalfi cross was the original cross which was
taken then by the members of the Order of Malta. The reason of
that is that the members of this Order came originally from
Amalfi.
Pascal Vagnat
In Italy the national flag is rarely used too, but not for
"sacreness" of it. We Italian are not much patriotic,
consequently we do not use the flag or its colors in everyday's
life. The only occasions you can see the green-white-red flag
appended outside the not-official buildings are the victories of
Italian soccer team !
Giuseppe Bottasini
Italy's current arms date back to 1948 and would be better
known as an emblem, considering the poor heraldic pattern. The
main feature is a white, red bordered star. This comes from the
previous kingdom's arms, even if it was upside down there, i.e.
with a tip pointing downwards. That meant, and means, Italy as a
united state. It was known, during the kingdom, as the "big
star of Italy". Now it is superimposed on a gear, this last
standing for work, the Italian constitution stating that Italy is
a country based on [common] work. Supportes are an olive branch,
symbol of peace, and an oak branch, symbol of strength. The red
ribbon reports the official name of the state in white capital
characters. Simple, but effective. A few years ago there was a
national campaign to change the emblem and set up a more proper
coat of arms: the projects were so poor that eventually the
decision was to go on with the current symbol...
Pier Paolo Lugli, 4 December 1997
The (light) blue is the color of Savoia. It is still used for
the President's flag (blue with the coat-of-arms of the Republic
in gold).
Giuseppe Bottasini, 26 February 1996
by Antonio Martins , 23 July 1999
It's the EU "civil ensign"; it is customary, I'm
told, for Europeans to display the EU flag on private boats with
their own ensign in the canton, here Italy.
Al Kirsch , 20 July 1999
That's an Italian European Ensign, as used unofficially on
internal European waterways. There are variants for most other EU
countries, such as Britain, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and
France.
Graham Bartram , 20 July 1999
Now this is strange, in the first place: Why ships operating
in internal European waterways don't use their own national
ensigns and/or courtesy flags, even if only officially? OTOH, if
this is a way to expess european "loyalty" why not a
plain UE flag? Why deface it with the national ensign?...
Antonio Martins , 23 July 1999
