The Italian flag
The Italian flag
The tricolour Italian flag first appeared in Reggio Emilia, when in 1797 the Parliament of the Cispadane Republic adopted the combination of the three colours as its own flag.
The many Jacobin-inspired republics, that were established in the Napoleonic era to oppose the absolute monarchies, mostly adopted three-striped flags, in various colours, inspired by the model which had stemmed from the French Revolution. Particularly, the flag of the Lombardy Legion was white, red and green, like the banners of the Italian Legion, that gathered the soldiers from Emilia and Romagna. Hence the choice of white, red and green for the Cispadane flag.
At that time the ideals of indipendence, that would nourish the Risorgimento as well as the flag, took up a new meaning: it was not a dynastic and military sign any longer, but rather a symbol of the people and freedom.
With the Restoration, the tricolour flag was chocked off, but for the fighting Italians it continued to be a symbol of freedom and hope: it was raised during risings and rebellions and it even inspired the lyrics of the Mameli anthem (“One single flag, one single hope will gather us").
In 1848, as the Constitutions were bestowed in many areas of Italy, the flag became the symbol of national rise, and Carlo Alberto, in announcing the First War of Indipendence, stated that his troops would fight with the Savoia shield on a tricoloured background pinned on their uniform, to show “the feeling of the Italian union”.
This would remain the Italian flag also after the proclamation of the unity of Itay in 1861, and only in 1925 a law established how the national flag was to look and forbade all variation.
The flag we wave today originated with the Republic. The Constituent Assembly approved it the 24th March 1947, and our Constitution (article 12) describes it as follows: "The flag of the Republic is the Italian tricolour: green, white and red vertical stripes of the same size."
La storia del Tricolore sul sito del Quirinale
Il Museo del Tricolore a Reggio Emilia
