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{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox flag
| Name         = Italian Republic
| Nickname     = {{lang|it|il Tricolore}}
| Image        = Flag of Italy.svg
| Use          = 111000
| Symbol       = {{FIAV|111000}} {{FIAV|normal}} {{FIAV|Vertical normal}} {{FIAV|Mirror}}
| Proportion   = 2:3
| Adoption     = {{start date and age|df=yes|18 June 1946}} ([[1946 Italian institutional referendum|founding of the Italian Republic]])<br />{{start date and age|df=yes|14 April 2006}} (current colour specifications)
| Design       = A vertical [[tricolour (flag)|tricolour]] of green, white and red
| Name2        = 
| Image2       = Civil Ensign of Italy.svg
| Use2         = 100100
| Symbol2      = {{FIAV|100100}} {{FIAV|normal}} {{FIAV|Mirror}}
| Proportion2  = 2:3
| Adoption2    = {{start date and age|1948|11|09|df=y}}
| Design2      = An Italian tricolour [[Defacement (flag)|defaced]] with combined historical arms of Venice, Genoa, Pisa and Amalfi but different from that of the [[Italian Navy]]
| Name3        = 
| Image3       = State ensign of Italy.svg
| Use3         = 000010
| Symbol3      = {{FIAV|000010}} {{FIAV|normal}} {{FIAV|Mirror}}
| Proportion3  = 2:3
| Adoption3    = {{start date and age|2003|10|24|df=y}}
| Design3      = An Italian tricolour defaced with the [[Emblem of Italy]]
| Image4       = Naval Ensign of Italy.svg
| Use4         = 000001
| Symbol4      = {{FIAV|000001}} {{FIAV|normal}} {{FIAV|Mirror}}
| Proportion4  = 2:3
| Adoption4    = {{start date and age|1947|11|09|df=y}}
| Design4      = An Italian tricolour defaced with the arms of the Italian Navy
| Image5       = War Flag of Italy.svg
| Use5         = 001000
| Symbol5      = {{FIAV|001000}} {{FIAV|normal}} {{FIAV|Mirror}}
| Proportion5  = 1:1
| Design5      = An Italian tricolour with a dimension ratio of 1:1
| Image6       = Naval jack of Italy.svg
| Use6         = [[Jack (flag)|Naval jack]]
| Symbol6      = 
| Proportion6  = 1:1
| Design6      = An square flag as the banner of the arms of the Italian Navy
}}

The '''flag of Italy''' ({{langx|it|bandiera d'Italia}}, {{IPA|it|banˈdjɛːra diˈtaːlja|lang}}), often referred to as '''the Tricolour''' ({{lang|it|il Tricolore}}, {{IPA|it|il trikoˈloːre|lang}}), is a flag featuring three equally sized vertical [[Pale (heraldry)|pales]] of green, white and red, with the green at the hoist side, as defined by Article 12 of the [[Constitution of the Italian Republic]].<ref name=constitution>[[wikisource:Constitution of Italy|Costituzione della Repubblica Italiana]] Art. 12, 22 dicembre 1947, pubblicata nella [[Gazzetta Ufficiale]] n. 298 del 27 dicembre 1947 edizione straordinaria (published in the Official Gazette [of the Italian Republic] No. 298 of 27 December 1947 extraordinary edition) "La bandiera della Repubblica è il tricolore italiano: verde, bianco, e rosso, a tre bande verticali di eguali dimensioni"</ref> The Italian law regulates its use and display, protecting its defense and providing for the [[Flag desecration|crime of insulting it]]; it also prescribes its teaching in Italian schools together with other [[national symbols of Italy]].

The Italian [[Flag Day]] named [[Tricolour Day]] was established by law n. 671 of 31 December 1996, and is held every year on 7 January. This celebration commemorates the first official adoption of the tricolour as a national flag by a sovereign Italian state, the [[Cispadane Republic]], a Napoleonic [[sister republic]] of [[Revolutionary France]], which took place in [[Reggio Emilia]] on 7 January 1797, on the basis of the events following the [[French Revolution]] (1789–1799) which, among its ideals, advocated national [[self-determination]]. The Italian national colours appeared for the first time in [[Genoa]] on a [[Cockade of Italy|tricolour cockade]] on 21 August 1789, anticipating by seven years the first green, white and red Italian military [[war flag]], which was adopted by the [[Lombard Legion]] in [[Milan]] on 11 October 1796.

After 7 January 1797, popular support for the Italian flag grew steadily, until it became one of the most important symbols of [[Italian unification]], which culminated on 17 March 1861 with the [[proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy]], of which the tricolour became the national flag. Following its adoption, the tricolour became one of the most recognisable and defining features of united Italian statehood in the following two centuries of the [[history of Italy]].

== History ==
=== The French Revolution ===
{{main|Cockade of Italy|Cockade of France}}
{{further|National colours of Italy}}
The Italian tricolour, like other [[Tricolour (flag)|tricolour flags]], is inspired by the [[Flag of France|French one]], introduced by the [[French Revolution|revolution]] in 1790 on [[French Navy]] warships,<ref name=elysee>{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://www.elysee.fr/la-presidence/le-drapeau-francais/|title=Le drapeau français – Présidence de la République|access-date=13 February 2013|archive-date=31 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171231083137/http://www.elysee.fr/la-presidence/le-drapeau-francais|url-status=live}}</ref> and is symbolic of the renewal perpetrated by the origins of [[Jacobin (politics)|Jacobinism]].<ref name=Cherasco>{{Cite web|url=http://www.radiomarconi.com/marconi/carducci/tricolore_nacque.html|title=Otto mesi prima di Reggio il tricolore era già una realtà|access-date=14 January 2016|language=it|archive-date=9 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309115746/http://www.radiomarconi.com/marconi/carducci/tricolore_nacque.html|url-status=usurped}}</ref><ref name="quirinale-pdf">{{Cite web|url=http://www.quirinale.it/qrnw/statico/simboli/tricolore/tricolore.pdf|title=I simboli della Repubblica|language=it|access-date=14 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151006182656/http://www.quirinale.it/qrnw/statico/simboli/tricolore/tricolore.pdf|archive-date=6 October 2015}}</ref>{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=156}} Shortly after the [[French Revolution|French revolutionary events]], the ideals of social innovation began to spread widely on the basis of the advocacy of the [[Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen]] of 1789, including in Italy, and subsequently political innovation with the first patriotic ferments addressed to the national [[self-determination]] that later led to the [[Italian unification]] on the [[Italian peninsula]].{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=156}}{{sfn|Fiorini|1897|pp=239–267 and 676–710}} For this reason, the French blue, white and red flag became the first reference of the Italian Jacobins and subsequently a source of inspiration for the creation of an Italian identity flag.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=156}}

On 12 July 1789, two days before the [[storming of the Bastille]], the revolutionary journalist [[Camille Desmoulins]], while hailing the Parisian crowd to revolt, asked the protesters what colour to adopt as a symbol of the French Revolution, proposing green, a symbol of [[hope]] or the [[blue]] of the [[American Revolution]], a symbol of [[freedom]] and [[democracy]]. The protesters replied "The green! The green! We want green cockades!"<ref name=Bolzano>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-ynpQ5lnU2EC&q=Camille+Desmoulins+coccarda+francese+verde+foglie&pg=PA174|title=Giovani del terzo millennio, di Giacomo Bolzano|isbn=9788883587504|language=it|access-date=9 March 2017|last1=Bolzano|first1=Giacomo|year=2005|publisher=Armando Editore }}</ref> Desmoulins then seized a green leaf from the ground and pointed it to the hat as a distinctive sign of the revolutionaries.<ref name=Bolzano /> The green, in the primitive [[Cockade of France|French cockade]], was immediately abandoned in favour of blue and red, the [[Coat of arms of Paris|ancient colours of Paris]], because it was also the colour of the king's brother, [[Count of Artois]], who became monarch after the [[First Restoration]] with the name of [[Charles X of France]].<ref name=italia-oggi>{{cite web|url=http://www.italiaoggi.it/giornali/dettaglio_giornali.asp?preview=false&accessMode=FA&id=2139232&codiciTestate=1|title=Il verde no, perché è il colore del re. Così la Francia ha scelto la bandiera blu, bianca e rossa ispirandosi all'America|language=it|access-date=9 March 2017}}</ref> The French tricolour cockade was then completed on 17 July 1789 with the addition of white, the colour of the [[House of Bourbon]], in deference to King [[Louis XVI]] of France, who still ruled despite the violent revolts that raged in the country; the French monarchy was [[Abolition of monarchy|abolished on 10 August 1792]].
[[File:Coccarda ITALIA.svg|thumb|The [[cockade of Italy]], on which the [[national colours of Italy]] were based in 1789]]

The first documented use of [[National colours of Italy|Italian national colours]] is dated 21 August 1789. In the historical archives of the [[Republic of Genoa]] it is reported that eyewitnesses had seen some demonstrators hanging a [[Cockade of Italy|red, white and green cockade]] on their clothes.<ref name="Cita|Ferorelli |p. 662">{{cite journal |last1=Ferorelli |first1=Nicola |year=1925 |title=La vera origine del tricolore italiano |url=http://www.risorgimento.it/rassegna/index.php?id=10511&ricerca_inizio=0&ricerca_query=&ricerca_ordine=DESC&ricerca_libera= |journal=Rassegna Storica del Risorgimento |volume=XII |issue=fasc. III |language=it |pages=662 |access-date=22 September 2019 |archive-date=31 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331181159/http://www.risorgimento.it/rassegna/index.php?id=10511&ricerca_inizio=0&ricerca_query=&ricerca_ordine=DESC&ricerca_libera= |url-status=live }}</ref> The Italian gazettes of the time had created confusion about the facts of French Revolution, especially on the replacement of green with blue, reporting that the French tricolour was green, white and red.<ref name="Cita|Ferorelli |p. 666">{{cite journal |last1=Ferorelli |first1=Nicola |year=1925 |title=La vera origine del tricolore italiano |url=http://www.risorgimento.it/rassegna/index.php?id=10515&ricerca_inizio=0&ricerca_query=&ricerca_ordine=DESC&ricerca_libera= |journal=Rassegna Storica del Risorgimento |volume=XII |issue=fasc. III |language=it |pages=666 |access-date=22 September 2019 |archive-date=31 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331190005/http://www.risorgimento.it/rassegna/index.php?id=10515&ricerca_inizio=0&ricerca_query=&ricerca_ordine=DESC&ricerca_libera= |url-status=live }}</ref> When the correct information on the chromatic composition of the French tricolour arrived in Italy, the Italian Jacobins decided to keep green instead of blue, because it represented nature and therefore metaphorically, also [[Natural law|natural rights]], or [[social equality]] and [[freedom]], both principles dear to them.<ref name="valori">{{cite web|url=http://www.150anni.it/webi/index.php?s=25&wid=988|title=I valori – Il Tricolore|language=it|access-date=3 May 2017|archive-date=31 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170731035724/http://www.150anni.it/webi/index.php?s=25&wid=988|url-status=live}}</ref>

The red, white and green cockade then reappeared several years later on 13–14 November 1794 worn by a group of students of the [[University of Bologna]], led by Luigi Zamboni and Giovanni Battista De Rolandis who attempted to plot a popular riot to topple the Catholic government of [[Bologna]],<ref name="asti">{{cite web|url=http://www.150.provincia.asti.it/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=93:mostra-giovan-battista-de-rolandis-e-il-tricolore&catid=13:resoconti&Itemid=30|website=150.provincia.asti.it|title=Mostra Giovan Battista De Rolandis e il Tricolore|access-date=20 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101000927/http://www.150.provincia.asti.it/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=93:mostra-giovan-battista-de-rolandis-e-il-tricolore&catid=13:resoconti&Itemid=30|archive-date=1 January 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=12}} a city which was part of the [[Papal States]] at the time. Zamboni and De Rolandis defined themselves as "patriots" and wore tricolour cockades to signal they were inspired by Jacobin revolutionary ideals, but modified them also to distinguish themselves from the French cockade.

The red, white and green cockade appeared, after the events of Bologna, during [[Napoleon]]'s entry into [[Milan]], which took place on 15 May 1796.{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=10}} These cockades, having the typical circular shape, possessed red on the outside, green on an intermediate position, and white on the centre.{{sfn|Colangeli|1965|p=13}} These ornaments were worn by the rioters even during the religious ceremonies officiated inside the [[Milan Cathedral]] as thanks for the arrival of Napoleon, who was seen, at least initially, as a liberator.{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=10}} The tricolour cockades then became one of the official symbols of the Milanese National Guard, which was founded on 20 November 1796, and then spread elsewhere along the [[Italian peninsula]].<ref name="valori"/> Later the green, white and red cockade spread to a greater extent, gradually becoming the only ornament used in Italy by the rioters.<ref name="Cita|Ferorelli|p. 668">{{cite journal |last1=Ferorelli |first1=Nicola |year=1925 |title=La vera origine del tricolore italiano |url=http://www.risorgimento.it/rassegna/index.php?id=10511&ricerca_inizio=0&ricerca_query=&ricerca_ordine=DESC&ricerca_libera= |journal=Rassegna Storica del Risorgimento |volume=XII |issue=fasc. III |language=it |pages=668 |access-date=22 September 2019 |archive-date=31 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331181159/http://www.risorgimento.it/rassegna/index.php?id=10511&ricerca_inizio=0&ricerca_query=&ricerca_ordine=DESC&ricerca_libera= |url-status=live }}</ref> The patriots began to call it "[[Cockade of Italy|Italian cockade]]" making it become one of the [[National symbols of Italy|symbols of the country]].<ref name="Cita|Ferorelli|p. 668"/> The green, white and red tricolour thus acquired a strong patriotic value, becoming one of the symbols of national awareness, a change that gradually led it to enter the [[Imaginary (sociology)|collective imagination]] of the [[Italians]].<ref name="Cita|Ferorelli|p. 668"/>

=== The Napoleonic era ===
{{main|Flags of Napoleonic Italy}}
{{further|Sala del Tricolore}}
[[File:Flag of the Lombard Legion.svg|thumb|left|{{FIAV|historical}} The war flag of the [[Lombard Legion]], which was the first military unit to adopt the three Italian national colours]]
The oldest documented mention of the Italian tricolour flag is linked to [[Napoleon]] Bonaparte's first descent into the [[Italian peninsula]]. The first territory to be conquered by Napoleon was [[Piedmont]]; in the historical archive of the Piedmontese municipality of [[Cherasco]] is preserved a document attesting, on 13 May 1796, on the occasion of the [[Armistice of Cherasco]] between Napoleon and the Austro-Piedmontese troops, the first mention of the Italian tricolour, referring to municipal banners hoisted on three towers in the historic centre.<ref>Giovanni Francesco Damilano, ''Libro familiare di me sacerdote ed avvocato Giovanni Francesco Damilano 1775–1802'', Cherasco, Fondo Adriani, Historical Archive of the City of Cherasco, 1803, p. 36.</ref> On the document the term "green" was subsequently crossed and replaced by "blue", the colour that forms – together with white and red – the French flag.<ref name=Cherasco />

With the start of the [[Italian campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars|first campaign in Italy]], in many places the Jacobins of the Italian peninsula rose up, contributing, together with the Italian soldiers framed in the Napoleonic army, to the French victories.{{sfn|Tarozzi|1999|p=66}}{{sfn|Tarozzi|1999|p=69}} This renewal was accepted by the Italians despite being linked to the conveniences of Napoleonic France, which had strong imperialist tendencies because the new political situation was seen as better than the previous one. This double-threaded link with France was more acceptable than the previous centuries of [[Absolute monarchy|absolutism]].{{Opinion|date=March 2025}}<!-- WP:SUBSTANTIATE -->{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=162}}
[[File:Flag of the Cispadane Republic.svg|thumb|{{FIAV|historical}} Flag of the [[Cispadane Republic]], which was the first Italian tricolour adopted by a sovereign Italian state (1797)]]

On 11 October 1796, Napoleon communicated to the [[French Directory|Directorate]] the birth of the [[Lombard Legion]], a military unit constituted by the General Administration of [[Lombardy]],{{sfn|Bovio|1996|p=19}}{{sfn|Tarozzi|1999|p=67}} a government that was headed by the [[Transpadane Republic]] (1796–1797).<ref name="difesa">{{cite web|url=http://www.difesa.it/InformazioniDellaDifesa/periodico/IlPeriodico_AnniPrecedenti/Documents/LEsercito_del_primo_Tricolore.pdf|title=L'Esercito del primo Tricolore|access-date=8 March 2017|language=it|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170309071221/http://www.difesa.it/InformazioniDellaDifesa/periodico/IlPeriodico_AnniPrecedenti/Documents/LEsercito_del_primo_Tricolore.pdf|archive-date=9 March 2017}}</ref> On this document, with reference to its [[war flag]], which followed the French tricolour and which was proposed to Napoleon by the Milanese patriots,{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=10}} it is reported that this military unit would have had a red, white and green banner, colours formerly used by Milanese National Guard as well as on the cockades.{{sfn|Busico|2005|p=11}}<ref name="radiomarconi">{{cite web|url=http://www.radiomarconi.com/marconi/storiabandiera/significato.html|website=radiomarconi.com|title=Il significato dei tre colori della nostra Bandiera Nazionale|access-date=20 August 2017|archive-date=1 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180801124133/http://www.radiomarconi.com/marconi/storiabandiera/significato.html|url-status=usurped}}</ref><ref>On 11 October 1796, Napoleon wrote to the [[French Directory|Directorate]], "Les couleurs nationales qu'ils ont adoptées sont le vert, le blanc et le rouge" (the national colours they have adopted are green, white, and red), Corr. Nap. II, No. 1085; see Frasca, Francesco [http://www.napoleon-series.org/military/organization/c_italy.html ''Les Italiens dans l'Armée napoléonienne: Des légions aux Armées de la République italienne et du Royaume d'Italie''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090513032143/http://www.napoleon-series.org/military/organization/c_italy.html |date=13 May 2009 }} Etudes napoléoniennes, Tome IV (pp. 374–396) Levallois: Centre d'études napoléoniennes, 1988</ref> In a ceremony at the [[Piazza del Duomo, Milan|Piazza del Duomo]] on 16 November 1796, a [[military flag]] was presented to the Lombard Legion. The Lombard Legion was therefore the first Italian military department to equip itself, as a banner, with a tricolour flag.<ref name="difesa"/> The first official approval of the Italian flag by the authorities was therefore as a military insignia of the Lombard— Legion and not yet as the [[national flag]] of a sovereign Italian state.{{sfn|Tarozzi|1999|pp=67–68}}

With the succession of Napoleon's military victories and the consequent founding of republics favourable to revolutionary ideals, red, white and green were adopted on military banners as a symbol of social and political innovation in many Italian cities.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=156}} On 19 June 1796, [[Bologna]] was occupied by Napoleon's troops.{{sfn|Colangeli|1965|p=14}} On 18 October 1796,{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=11}} together with the establishment of the Italian Legion (the military banner of this military unit was composed of a red, white and green tricolour, probably inspired by the similar decision of the Lombard Legion),{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=10}}{{sfn|Busico|2005|p=11}}{{sfn|Tarozzi|1999|p=68}} the wire Napoleonic congregation of magistrates, and deputies of Bologna, decided to create a [[Gonfalon|civic banner]] of red, white and green, this time released from military use.{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=11}} Following the adoption by the Bolognese congregation, the Italian flag became a political symbol of the struggle for the independence of Italy from foreign powers, supported by its use also in the civil sphere.{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=11}}

The first red, white and green national flag of a sovereign Italian state was adopted on 7 January 1797, when the Fourteenth Parliament of the [[Cispadane Republic]] (1797), on the proposal of deputy [[Giuseppe Compagnoni]], decreed "to make universal the ... standard or flag of three colours, green, white, and red ...":<ref>[http://www.esteri.it/MAE/EN/Benvenuti_in_Italia/Conoscere_Italia/bandieraInno.htm The tri-coloured standard].Getting to Know Italy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (retrieved 5 October 2008) {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080223131121/http://www.esteri.it/MAE/EN/Benvenuti_in_Italia/Conoscere_Italia/bandieraInno.htm |date=23 February 2008}}</ref> 
[[File:Giuseppe Compagnoni.jpg|thumb|left|[[Giuseppe Compagnoni]], considered the "father of the Italian flag"]]

{{blockquote|text=[...] From the minutes of the XIV Session of the Cispadan Congress: Reggio Emilia, 7 January 1797, 11 am. [[Sala del Tricolore (Reggio Emilia)|Patriotic Hall]]. The participants are 100, deputies of the populations of Bologna, Ferrara, Modena and Reggio Emilia. Giuseppe Compagnoni also motioned that the standard or Cispadan Flag of three colours, Green, White and Red, should be rendered Universal and that these three colours should also be used in the Cispadan Cockade, which should be worn by everyone. It is decreed. [...]<ref group=Note>[...] Dal verbale della Sessione XIV del Congresso Cispadano: Reggio Emilia, 7 gennaio 1797, ore 11. Sala Patriottica. Gli intervenuti sono 100, deputati delle popolazioni di Bologna, Ferrara, Modena e Reggio Emilia. Giuseppe Compagnoni fa pure mozione che si renda Universale lo Stendardo o Bandiera Cispadana di tre colori, Verde, Bianco e Rosso e che questi tre colori si usino anche nella Coccarda Cispadana, la quale debba portarsi da tutti. Viene decretato. [...]</ref>|source=Decree of adoption of the tricolour flag by the Cispadane Republic}}

For having proposed the green, white and red tricolour flag, Giuseppe Compagnoni is considered the "father of the Italian flag".{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=157}}{{sfn|Tarozzi|1999|p=9}} The congress decision to adopt a green, white and red tricolour flag was then greeted by a jubilant atmosphere, such was the enthusiasm of the delegates, and by a peal of applause.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=158}} The adoption of the Italian flag by a sovereign Italian state, the Cispadane Republic, was inspired by this Bolognese banner, linked to a municipal reality and therefore still having a purely local scope, and to the previous military banners of the Lombard Legion and Italian Legion.<ref name="quirinale-pdf" /><ref name="vessillo-bolognese">{{Cite web|url=http://www.radiomarconi.com/marconi/carducci/documenti.html|title=Bologna, 28 ottobre 1796: Nascita della Bandiera Nazionale Italiana|access-date=14 January 2016|language=it|archive-date=7 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307051347/http://www.radiomarconi.com/marconi/carducci/documenti.html|url-status=usurped}}</ref> In particular, the Italian Legion was formed by soldiers coming from [[Emilia (region of Italy)|Emilia]] and [[Romagna]]. The flag of the Cispadane Republic was a horizontal square with red uppermost and, at the heart of the white [[fess]], an emblem composed of a garland of laurel decorated with a trophy of arms and four arrows, representing the four provinces that formed the Republic. In France, due to the Revolution, the flag went from having a "dynastic" and "military" meaning to a "national" one, and this concept, still unknown in Italy, was transmitted by the French to the Italians.{{sfn|Fiorini|1897|p=685}}
[[File:Sala tricolore reggio.jpg|thumb|The ''[[Sala del Tricolore (Reggio Emilia)|Sala del Tricolore]]'', which later became the council hall of the municipality of [[Reggio Emilia]], where the Italian flag was born on 7 January 1797]]

The Cispadane Republic and the Transpadane Republic merged in 1797 into the [[Cisalpine Republic]] (1797–1802) and adopted the vertical square tricolour without badge in 1798. Originally the colours of the flag of the Cisalpine Republic were arranged horizontally, with green at the top,{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=163}} but on 11 May 1798, the Grand Council of the newborn State chose, as the national banner, an Italian tricolour with the colours arranged vertically.{{sfn|Vecchio|2003|p=42}}{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=13}}{{sfn|Busico|2005|p=17}} At the formal celebration of the birth in the new republic, which took place on 9 July in Milan, 300,000 people took part, including ordinary citizens, French soldiers and representatives of the major municipalities of the republic.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=162}} The event was characterised by a riot of tricolour flags and cockades.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=163}} On this occasion, Napoleon solemnly gave to the military units of the newborn republic, after having reviewed them, their tricolour banners.{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=12}}

The flag of the Cisalpine Republic was maintained until 1802, when it was renamed the [[Italian Republic (Napoleonic)|Napoleonic Italian Republic]] (1802–1805), and a new flag was adopted, this time with a red field carrying a green square within a white [[Lozenge (heraldry)|lozenge]]; the [[presidential standard of Italy]] in use since 14 October 2000 was inspired by this flag.<ref name="stendardo"/>

It was during this period that the green, white and red tricolour predominantly penetrated the collective imagination of the Italians, becoming an unequivocal [[National symbols of Italy|symbol of Italianness]].{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=169}}{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=15}} In less than 20 years, the red, white and green flag had acquired its own peculiarity from a simple flag derived from the French one, becoming very famous and known.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=169}}

In 1799, the independent [[Republic of Lucca]] came under French influence and horizontally adopted the vertical green, white and red flag, with green at the top; this lasted until 1801. In 1805, Napoleon installed his sister, [[Elisa Bonaparte]] Baciocchi, as Princess of [[Lucca]] and [[Piombino]]. This affair is commemorated in the opening of [[Leo Tolstoy]]'s ''[[War and Peace]]''.<ref>"Well, Prince, so Genoa and Lucca are now just family estates of the Bonapartes", [http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext01/wrnpc12.txt facsimile of the 1922 English translation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081224215501/http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext01/wrnpc12.txt |date=24 December 2008 }} by [[Aylmer and Louise Maude]], [[Project Gutenberg]] (retrieved 5 October 2008)</ref>

In the same year, after Napoleon had crowned himself as the first [[First French Empire|French Emperor]], the Italian Republic was transformed into the first [[Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic)|Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy]] (1805–1814), or ''Italico'', under his direct rule. The flag of the Kingdom of Italy was that of the Republic in rectangular form, [[charge (heraldry)|charged]] with the golden Napoleonic eagle.{{sfn|Bovio|1996|p=37}} This remained in use until the fall of Napoleon in 1814.

=== Italian unification ===
{{Main|Italian unification}}

==== The revolutions of the 19th century ====
[[File:Cinque Giornate di Milano 01.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Five Days of Milan]] (1848), of which one of the symbols was the tricolour]]
With the fall of Napoleon and the restoration of the [[Absolute monarchy|absolutist monarchical regimes]], the Italian tricolour went underground, becoming the symbol of the patriotic ferments that began to spread in Italy{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=10}}{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=169}} and the symbol which united all the efforts of the Italian people towards freedom and independence.<ref>Ghisi, Enrico ''Il tricolore italiano (1796–1870)'' Milano: Anonima per l'Arte della Stampa, 1931; see Gay, H. Nelson in ''The American Historical Review'' Vol. 37 No. 4 (pp. 750–751), July 1932 {{JSTOR|1843352}}</ref> In the [[Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia]], a state dependent on the [[Austrian Empire]] born after the fall of Napoleon, those who exhibited the Italian tricolour were subject to the [[death penalty]].{{sfn|Colangeli|1965|p=17}} The Austrians' objective was in fact, quoting the textual words of Emperor [[Franz Joseph I of Austria]]:{{sfn|Bronzini|1986|p=137}}

{{blockquote|text=[The tricolour was banned to] make people forget that they are Italian.|source=Franz Joseph I of Austria}}

Between 1820 and 1861, a sequence of events led to the [[Italian unification|independence and unification of Italy]] (except for [[Veneto]] and the [[province of Mantua]], [[Lazio]], [[Trentino-Alto Adige]] and [[Julian March]], known as ''[[Italian irredentism|Italia irredenta]]'', which were united with the rest of Italy in 1866 after the [[Third Italian War of Independence]], in 1870 after the [[capture of Rome]], and in 1918 after [[World War I]] respectively); this period of Italian history is known as the ''[[Risorgimento]]''. The Italian tricolour waved for the first time in the history of the ''Risorgimento'' on 11 March 1821 in the [[Cittadella of Alessandria]], during the [[Revolutions during the 1820s|revolutions of the 1820s]], after the oblivion caused by the restoration of the absolutist monarchical regimes.{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=18}} 
[[File:Flag of the Kingdom of Sardinia (1848-1851).svg|thumb|{{FIAV|historical}} The flag adopted by the [[Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia]] in 1848]]

The green, white and red flag reappeared during the [[revolutions of 1830]],{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=18}} mainly due to [[Ciro Menotti]], the patriot who started the rebellion in Italy.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=170}}{{sfn|Busico|2005|pp=25–27}} Menotti, in particular, argued that the best form of state for a united Italy was the monarchy with a sovereign chosen by a national congress. The main points of this idea were Rome as the capital of Italy and the tricolour flag as a national banner.{{sfn|Busico|2005|p=25}} On 5 February 1831, during the Forlì uprisings, the patriot Teresa Cattani wrapped herself in the tricolour flag during the assault on the building that was the seat of the [[Legation of Romagna]], challenging the shots of the papal soldiers.{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=18}}

In 1831, the tricolour was chosen by [[Giuseppe Mazzini]] as the emblem of [[Young Italy]].{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=172}} An original flag of Young Italy is kept at the Museum of the Risorgimento and Mazzinian institute in [[Genoa]].{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=290}} From 1833 to 1834, the symbolism of the tricolour spread more and more along the Italian peninsula,{{sfn|Tarozzi|1999|p=74}} starting from northern and central Italy.{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=18}} Mazzini, regarding the reason why the Italian patriots had participated in the uprisings of 1830–1831, said:{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=53}}

{{blockquote|text=Ask those who ran from one point to another to bring together the various districts, to the flag that flew between those riots. That flag was the Italian flag; those first voices were voices of Fatherland and brotherhood.<ref group=Note>Chiedetelo a coloro che corsero da un punto all'altro per affratellare le varie contrade, alla bandiera che sventolò tra quei moti. Quella bandiera fu la bandiera italiana; quelle prime voci erano voci di Patria e fratellanza</ref>|source=Giuseppe Mazzini}}

The Italian flag also spread among political exiles, becoming the symbol of the struggle for independence and the claim to have more liberal constitutions.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=173}} In 1834 the tricolour was adopted by the rioters who tried to invade [[Savoy]],{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=19}}{{sfn|Busico|2005|p=27}} while the tricolour flag of Young Italy was brought to [[South America]] in 1835 by [[Giuseppe Garibaldi]] during his exile.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=173}}
[[File:Bandiera 1848 Milano a Carlo Alberto.jpg|thumb|left|Tricolour flag donated by the women of Milan to King [[Charles Albert of Piedmont-Sardinia]] during the [[First Italian War of Independence]] (1848–1849). It is displayed at the [[Royal Armoury of Turin]].]]

The Italian flag was also waved during the uprisings of 1837 in [[Sicily]], of 1841 in [[Abruzzo]] and of 1843 in [[Romagna]].{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=18}}{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=174}} In 1844, a tricolour of Young Italy accompanied the [[Bandiera brothers]] in their failed attempt to raise the population of the [[Kingdom of the Two Sicilies]].{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=19}} The patriots following the two brothers wore a uniform consisting of a blue and green shirt, white trousers, red handguards, a red and green collar, a red leather belt and a cap with an [[Cockade of Italy|Italian tricolour cockade]] pinned.{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=55}}

Italian tricolours waved, challenging the authorities, who had decreed the ban, also on the occasion of the commemoration of the revolt of the Genoese quarter of Portoria against the [[Habsburg monarchy|Habsburg]] occupiers during the [[War of the Austrian Succession]]. During this event, which took place on 10 December 1847 in Genoa at the square of the ''santuario della Nostra Signora di Loreto'' of the Genoese district of Oregina, {{Lang|it|[[Il Canto degli Italiani]]}} by [[Goffredo Mameli]] and [[Michele Novaro]] played for the first time in history; it would become the Italian [[national anthem]] from 1946.{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=19}}{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=175}} {{Lang|it|Il Canto degli Italiani}}, in a verse, quotes the Italian flag:

{{blockquote|text=[...] Let one flag, one hope, gather us all. The hour has struck for us to unite. [...]<ref group=Note>[...] Raccolgaci un'unica bandiera, una speme: di fonderci insieme, già l'ora suonò. [...]</ref>|source={{Lang|it|[[Il Canto degli Italiani]]}}}}

These verses, which can be read in the second verse, recall the hope that Italy, still divided into the [[List of historic states of Italy|pre-unification states]], would be united in a single nation, gathering under a single flag.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=175}} Starting from this period the [[Arbutus unedo|strawberry tree]] plant began to be considered [[Strawberry Tree (national symbol of Italy)|a national symbol of Italy]] due to the green leaves, white flowers and red berries, which recall the colours of the Italian flag.<ref name="altovastese">{{cite web|url=http://www.altovastese.it/cultura/il-corbezzolo-simbolo-unita-italia-specie-che-resiste-agli-incendi/|title=Il corbezzolo simbolo dell'Unità d'Italia. Una specie che resiste agli incendi|date=3 October 2011|access-date=25 January 2016|language=it|archive-date=5 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160205120852/http://www.altovastese.it/cultura/il-corbezzolo-simbolo-unita-italia-specie-che-resiste-agli-incendi/|url-status=live}}</ref> The strawberry tree is the [[national tree]] of [[Italy]].<ref name="altovastese"/>
[[File:Arbutus unedo off Bayshore Drive at Coal Harbour.jpg|thumb|The green leaves, white flowers and red berries of the [[Arbutus unedo|strawberry tree]], whose colours recall the flag of Italy: for this reason this bush [[Strawberry Tree (national symbol of Italy)|is considered one of the Italian national symbols]].<ref name="altovastese"/> The strawberry tree is the [[national tree]] of Italy.<ref name="altovastese"/>]]

The Italian flag was a symbol of the [[revolutions of 1848]]. In March 1848, the [[Five Days of Milan]], an armed [[insurrection]] which led to the temporary liberation of the city from Austrian rule, were characterised by a profusion of flags and tricolour cockades.{{sfn|Bellocchi|2008|p=38}}{{sfn|Busico|2005|p=33}} On 20 March, during furious fighting, with the Austrians barricaded in the [[Castello Sforzesco]] and within the defensive systems of the city walls, the patriots Luigi Torelli and Scipione Bagaggia managed to climb on the roof of the [[Milan Cathedral]] and hoist the Italian flag on the highest spire of the church, the one on which the ''[[Madonnina (statue)|Madonnina]]'' stands.{{sfn|Villa|2010|pp=20–21}} At the moment of the appearance of the tricolour on the spire of the ''Madonnina'', the crowd below greeted the event with a series of enthusiastic "Hurray!"{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=21}} This historic flag is kept inside the [[Museum of the Risorgimento (Milan)|Museum of the Risorgimento in Milan]].{{sfn|Busico|2005|p=191}} The patriot Luciano Manara then managed to hoist the tricolour, amidst the Austrian artillery shots, on the top of [[Porta Vittoria|Porta Tosa]].{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=21}} The abandonment of the city by the Austrian troops of [[field marshal]] [[Josef Radetzky]], on 22 March, determined the immediate establishment of the provisional government of Milan chaired by the [[podestà]] Gabrio Casati, who issued a proclamation that read:{{sfn|Bellocchi|2008|p=40}}

{{blockquote|text=Let's get it over with once with any foreign domination in Italy. Embrace this tricolour flag that flies over the country for your valour and swear never to let it tear again.<ref group=Note>Facciamola finita una volta con qualunque dominazione straniera in Italia. Abbracciate questa bandiera tricolore che pel valor vostro sventola sul Paese e giurate di non lasciarvela strappare mai più.</ref>|source=Gabrio Casati}}

The process of transforming the flag of Italy into one of the Italian national symbols was completed, definitively consolidating itself, during the Milanese uprisings.{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=19}}
[[File:Sanesi - La rivoluzione di Palermo-12 gennaio 1848 - ca. 1850.jpg|thumb|The [[Sicilian revolution of 1848]], which was characterised by a wide use of the tricolour]]

The following day King [[Charles Albert of Piedmont-Sardinia]] assured the provisional government of Milan that his troops, ready to come to his aid by starting the [[First Italian War of Independence]], would use a tricolour [[Defacement (flag)|defaced]] with the Savoyan coat of arms superimposed on the white as a war flag.{{sfn|Bellocchi|2008|p=49}}{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=179}} In his proclamation to the Lombard–Venetian people, Charles Albert said:<ref>See [[D. H. Lawrence|Lawrence, D. H.]] (ed. Philip Crumpton) [https://books.google.com/books?id=uQyA7yU6lbAC ''Movements in European History''] (p. 230) Cambridge University Press, 1989 for an overview</ref>

{{blockquote|text="In order to show more clearly with exterior signs the commitment to Italian unification, we want that Our troops ... have the Savoy shield placed on the Italian tricolour flag.<ref group=Note>Per viemmeglio dimostrare con segni esteriori il sentimento dell'unione italiana, vogliamo che le nostre truppe, entrando nel territorio della Lombardia e della Venezia, portino lo Scudo di Savoia sovrapposto alla bandiera tricolore italiana</ref>|source=Charles Albert of Piedmont-Sardinia}}

As the arms, [[blazoned]] ''gules a cross argent'', mixed with the white of the flag, it was ''[[fimbriated]] azure'', blue being the [[dynastic]] colour, although this does not conform to the heraldic [[rule of tincture]].<ref>Lo [[Statuto Albertino]] Art. 77, dato in Torino addì quattro del mese di marzo l'anno del Signore mille ottocento quarantotto, e del Regno Nostro il decimo ottavo (given in Turin on the fourth of the month of March in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, and of Our Reign the eighteenth)</ref> The rectangular civil and state variants were adopted in 1851.

A makeshift tricolour consisting of [[Redshirts (Italy)|redshirts]], green displays and a white sheet was hoisted on the flagpole of the ship that brought [[Giuseppe Garibaldi]] back to Italy from South America shortly after the outbreak of the First Italian War of Independence.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=184}} The patriots who had gathered at the [[port of Genoa]] to welcome her return gave [[Anita Garibaldi]], in front of 3,000 people, a tricolour to be given to Giuseppe Garibaldi so that he could plant it on Lombard soil.{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=20}}

The [[Grand Duchy of Tuscany]] in the act of granting the constitution (17 February 1848) did not change the national banner ("The State retains its flag and its colours") but later granted the Tuscan militias, by decree, the use of a tricolour scarf next to the symbols of the Grand Duchy (25 March 1848).{{sfn|Bellocchi|2008|p=27}} The Grand Duke, following the pressure of the Tuscan patriots, then adopted the tricolour flag also as a state banner and as a military banner for the troops sent to help Charles Albert of Piedmont-Sardinia.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=184}}{{sfn|Bellocchi|2008|pp=27–28}} Similar measures were adopted by the [[Duchy of Parma and Piacenza]] and by the [[Duchy of Modena and Reggio]].{{sfn|Bellocchi|2008|pp=28–33}}
[[File:Sanesi - La proclamazione della Repubblica di San Marco, Marzo 1848 - litografia - ca. 1850.jpg|thumb|left|The proclamation the [[Republic of San Marco]] in [[Venice]] (1848), event that was characterised by a waving of tricolour flags]]

The flag of the Constitutional [[Kingdom of the Two Sicilies]], a white field charged with the coats of arms of Castile, Leon, Aragon, Two Sicilies, and Granada, was modified by [[Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies|Ferdinand II]] through the addition of a red and green border. This flag lasted from 3 April 1848 until 19 May 1849. The Provisional Government of Sicily, which lasted from 12 January 1848 to 15 May 1849 during the [[Sicilian revolution of 1848|Sicilian Revolution]], adopted the Italian tricolour, defaced with the trinacria, or [[triskelion]].

The [[Republic of San Marco]], proclaimed independent in 1848 by the [[Austrian Empire]], also adopted the tricolour.{{sfn|Bellocchi|2008|p=43}}{{sfn|Busico|2005|p=32}} The flags that they adopted marked the link to Italian independence and unification efforts. The former, the Italian tricolour undefaced, and the latter, charged with the winged lion of St. Mark, from the flag of the [[Republic of Venice]] ([[Maritime republics|maritime republic]] which existed from 697 [[AD]] until 1797 AD), on a white [[Canton (heraldry)|canton]].<ref>Lawrence, op. cit. (p. 229)</ref> A chronicler of the time described the final moments of the subsequent capitulation of the Republic of San Marco by the Austrian troops, which took place on 22 August 1849:{{sfn|Busico|2005|p=37}}

{{blockquote|text=The tricolour flags waved above every work, in every danger, and because the enemy balls not only tore up the silk, but broke the stick, it was immediately found who at great risk was going to replace another.<ref group=Note>Le bandiere tricolori sventolavano sopra ogni opera, in ogni pericolo, e perché le palle nemiche non solo ne stracciavano la seta, ma rompevano il bastone, si trovava subito chi a gran rischio andava a sostituirne un'altra.</ref>|source=Chronicler witnessing the last hours of the Republic of San Marco}}

The tricolour flag of 1848 that greeted the expulsion of the Austrians from Venice is kept in the Museum of the Risorgimento and the Venetian 19th century.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=292}}
[[File:Rossetti - Proclamazione della Repubblica Romana, nel 1849, in Piazza del Popolo - 1861.jpg|thumb|The proclamation of the [[Roman Republic (19th century)|Roman Republic]] in [[Piazza del Popolo]] (1848) in [[Rome]] among a profusion of tricolour flags]]

In 1849, the [[Roman Republic (19th century)|Roman Republic]], formed following the revolt against the [[Papal State]] that dethroned the [[Pope]], adopted as its national banner a green, white and red flag with a [[Aquila (Roman)|republican Roman eagle]] at the tip of the pole.{{sfn|Tarozzi|1999|p=75}}{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=188}}{{sfn|Bellocchi|2008|p=72}} This lasted for four months, while the Papal States of the Church was in abeyance.<ref>[[Leona Rostenberg|Rostenberg, Leona]], "Margaret Fuller's Roman Diary", ''The Journal of Modern History'' Vol. 12 No. 2 (pp. 209–220), June 1940</ref> The Roman Republic resisted until 4 July 1849, when it was capitulated by the French Army.{{sfn|Busico|2005|p=37}} The troops from beyond the Alps, as a last act, entered the municipality of Rome where the last members of the republican assembly not yet captured were barricaded. Their secretary Quirico Filopanti surrendered wearing a tricolour scarf.{{sfn|Busico|2005|p=37}}

The tricolour also flew over the barricades of the [[Ten Days of Brescia]], a revolt of the citizens of the Lombard city against the Austrian Empire,{{sfn|Villa|2010|pp=23–24}} and in many other centres such as [[Varese]], [[Gallarate]], [[Como]], [[Melegnano]], [[Cremona]], [[Monza]], [[Udine]], [[Trento]], [[Verona]], [[Rovigo]], [[Vicenza]], [[Belluno]] and [[Padua]].{{sfn|Bellocchi|2008|pp=40 and 42}} This spread throughout the Italian peninsula and demonstrated that the tricolour flag had by then assumed a consolidated symbolism valid throughout the national territory.{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=24}} The iconography of the Italian flag then began to spread not only in the vexillological and military fields, but also in some everyday objects such as scarves and clothing fabrics.{{sfn|Tarozzi|1999|p=156}}

This turning point lasted until the failure of revolutions and the end of the First Italian War of Independence (1849), which ended with the defeat of the Piedmont-Sardinian Army of Charles Albert; after this, the ancient flags were restored.{{sfn|Bellocchi|2008|p=81}} Only the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia confirmed the Italian tricolour as the national flag of the state even after the First Italian War of Independence ended.{{sfn|Bellocchi|2008|p=81}} After the defeat in the First Italian War of Independence in 1849, Charles Albert abdicated in favour of his son [[Victor Emmanuel II of Italy|Victor Emmanuel II]].

==== From the unification of Italy to World War I ====
{{Infobox flag
| Name         = Kingdom of Italy
| Image        = Flag of Italy (1861-1946) crowned.svg
| Use          = 010011
| Symbol       = {{FIAV|010011}} {{FIAV|historical}} {{FIAV|Mirror}}
| Proportion   = 2:3
| Adoption     = 1861 ([[proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy]])
| Relinquished = 1946 ([[birth of the Italian Republic]])
| Design       = A vertical [[tricolour (flag)|tricolour]] of green, white, and red, [[Defacement (flag)|defaced]] with the ''arms of Savoy'' and ''crown''
| Name2        =
| Image2       = Flag of Italy (1861-1946).svg
| Use2         = 100100
| Symbol2      = {{FIAV|100100}} {{FIAV|historical}} {{FIAV|Mirror}}
| Proportion2  = 2:3
| Adoption2     = 1861 ([[proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy]])
| Relinquished2 = 1946 ([[birth of the Italian Republic]])
| Design2      = A vertical [[tricolour (flag)|tricolour]] of green, white, and red, [[Defacement (flag)|defaced]] with the ''arms of Savoy''
| Name3        =
| Article3     =
| Image3       = Flag of Italy (1860).svg
| Use3         = 001000
| Symbol3      = {{FIAV|001000}} {{FIAV|historical}} {{FIAV|Mirror}}
| Proportion3  = 1:1
| Adoption3     = 1861 ([[proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy]])<ref>Regio decreto del 25 marzo 1860; see [http://www.difesa.it/Area_Storica_HTML/UniformiTradizioni/1860NuovaBandiera/Pagine/default.aspx 1860 – La nuova bandiera dei Corpi di Fanteria e Cavalleria] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121217061520/http://www.difesa.it/Area_Storica_HTML/UniformiTradizioni/1860NuovaBandiera/Pagine/default.aspx |date=17 December 2012 }} Uniformi e Tradizioni, Ministero della Difesa (retrieved 19 January 2013). Note No. 41 of 16 March 1863 (published in the Official Military Journal) is, in effect, an amendment to the 1860 decree with regard to fortresses, towers and military establishments; see [http://www.difesa.it/Area_Storica_HTML/UniformiTradizioni/Pagine/1863BandiereFortezzeTorriMilitari.aspx 1863 – Bandiere per le fortezze, torri e stabilimenti militari] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121217061722/http://www.difesa.it/Area_Storica_HTML/UniformiTradizioni/Pagine/1863BandiereFortezzeTorriMilitari.aspx |date=17 December 2012 }} Uniformi e Tradizioni, Ministero della Difesa (retrieved 22 January 2013)</ref>
| Relinquished3 = 1946 ([[birth of the Italian Republic]])
| Design3      = A defaced Italian tricolour
}}
[[File:San Martino della Battaglia - Turm Bodenhalle 2a Napoleon.jpg|thumb|left|[[Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont-Sardinia]] and [[Napoleon III of France]] entered [[Milan]] during the [[Second Italian War of Independence]] (1859).]]
On 14 April 1855, before the departure for the [[Crimean War]], the Italian tricolour flags were solemnly entrusted to the soldiers of the [[Sardinian Expeditionary Corps in the Crimean War]] by King [[Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont-Sardinia]] with the following farewell sentence:{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=193}}{{sfn|Bellocchi|2008|pp=82 and 84}}{{sfn|Busico|2005|p=39}}

{{blockquote|text=Soldiers! Here are your flags. Generously explained by the magnanimous Charles Albert, they remind you of the distant homeland and eight centuries of noble traditions. Know how to defend them; bring them back crowned with new glory and your sacrifices will be blessed by present and future generations.<ref group=Note>Movete dunque fidenti nella vittoria, e di novelli allori fregiate la Vostra bandiera, quella bandiera coi tre colori e colla eletta gioventù qui da ogni parte d'Italia convenuta e sotto a lei raccolta, vi addita che avete compito vostro l'indipendenza d'Italia, questa giusta e santa impresa che sarà il vostro grido di guerraSoldati! Eccovi le vostre bandiere. Generosamente spiegate dal magnanimo Carlo Alberto, vi ricordino la patria lontana ed otto secoli di nobili tradizioni. Sappiate difenderle; riportatele coronate di nuova gloria ed i vostri sacrifici saranno benedetti dalle presenti e dalle future generazioni.</ref>|source=Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont-Sardinia}}

One of the Italian flags that participated in the Crimean War is kept in the [[Royal Armoury of Turin]].{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=289}} In 1857, an Italian flag with the pole surmounted by a Phrygian cap and with an [[archipendulum]], a symbol of social balance, was a symbol of the [[Sapri]] expedition, or rather the failed attempt to trigger a revolt in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies perpetrated by [[Carlo Pisacane]].{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=23}}{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=191}} In order not to be captured, Pisacane committed suicide, and was reported to be bandaged with the tricolour flag.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=192}}{{sfn|Bellocchi|2008|p=85}}

On 10 January 1859, King Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont-Sardinia, in front of the members of parliament, announced the imminent entry into war of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia against the [[Austrian Empire]]:{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=24}}

{{blockquote|text=So move confidently in the victory, and with new laurels adorn your flag, that flag with the three colours and with the chosen youth here from every part of Italy agreed and gathered under her, it shows you that you have the independence of Italy, this just and holy enterprise which will be your war cry<ref group=Note>Movete dunque fidenti nella vittoria, e di novelli allori fregiate la Vostra bandiera, quella bandiera coi tre colori e colla eletta gioventù qui da ogni parte d'Italia convenuta e sotto a lei raccolta, vi addita che avete compito vostro l'indipendenza d'Italia, questa giusta e santa impresa che sarà il vostro grido di guerra</ref>|source=Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont-Sardinia}}
[[File:Partenza da Quarto.jpg|thumb|left|The departure of the [[Expedition of the Thousand]] (1860–1861)]]

When the [[Second Italian War of Independence]] (1859) broke out, volunteers from all over Italy were enrolled in the Piedmont-Sardinian army.{{sfn|Busico|2005|p=41}}

During the Second Italian War of Independence the cities that were gradually conquered by Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont-Sardinia and [[Napoleon III of France]] greeted the two sovereigns as liberators in a riot of flags and tricolour cockades; even the centres about to ask for annexation to the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia through plebiscites underlined their desire to be part of a united Italy with the waving of the tricolour.{{sfn|Bellocchi|2008|pp=96–101}} The Italian flag waved in Lombardy, annexed following the victory of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia in the Second Italian War of Independence, as well as in [[Tuscany]], [[Emilia (region)|Emilia]], [[Marche]] and [[Umbria]], annexed in the following year to the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia through plebiscites, but also in cities that would have had to wait some time before being annexed, such as [[Rome]] and [[Naples]].{{sfn|Bellocchi|2008|p=101}}{{sfn|Busico|2005|p=43}}

The enthusiasm of the population toward the tricolour grew in addition to the army of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia and the troops of volunteers who participated in the Second Italian War of Independence,{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=24}} the green, white and red flag spread widely available in newly conquered or annexed regions by plebiscites, appearing on house windows, in shop windows and in public places such as hotels and taverns.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|pp=196–198}}

The tricolour was also the flag of the [[United Provinces of Central Italy]], a short-lived [[Military occupation|military government]] established by the [[Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia]] that was formed by a union of the former [[Grand Duchy of Tuscany]], [[Duchy of Parma]], [[Duchy of Modena]], and the [[Papal Legations]], after their monarchs were ousted by popular revolutions.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cisv.it/azzurro/tricolore2.html|title=Storia minima della bandiera italiana – 2|access-date=28 February 2017|archive-date=20 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160320152701/http://www.cisv.it/azzurro/tricolore2.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The United Provinces of Central Italy existed from 1859 to 1860, when they were annexed to the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.geocities.com/capitolhill/rotunda/2209/Modena.html|title=States and Regents of the World – Central Italy 1859–1860|access-date=28 February 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080522201345/http://www.geocities.com/capitolhill/rotunda/2209/Modena.html|archive-date=22 May 2008}}</ref>
[[File:Corteo Reale all' Apertura del Parlamento del Regno d' Italia.jpg|thumb|left|The royal procession at the opening of the [[Parliament of the Kingdom of Italy]] (1861) among a profusion of tricolour flags]]

The tricolour accompanied, although not officially,{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|pp=202–203}} also the volunteers of the [[Expedition of the Thousand]] (1860–1861) led by [[Giuseppe Garibaldi]], whose goal was to conquer the [[Kingdom of the Two Sicilies]].{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=25}} Garibaldi, in particular, had an absolute deference and respect for the Italian flag.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=198}} Shortly after the loss of Sicily, on 25 June 1860, trying to limit the damage given the growing participation of the population in the Expedition of the Thousand, King [[Francis II of the Two Sicilies]], decreed that the green, white and red flag was also the official banner of his Kingdom, with the [[House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies]] coat of arms superimposed on the white.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=207}}{{sfn|Bellocchi|2008|pp=118–119}}{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=60}} Adopted on 21 June 1860, this lasted until 17 March 1861, when the Two Sicilies was incorporated into the [[Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia]], after its defeat in the Expedition of the Thousand. Ironically, in the final phase of the Expedition of the Thousand, the tricolour of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies fluttered in antagonism to the tricolour flag of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=208}} Two of the original tricolours that flew on the ''Lombardo'' [[steamship]] that participated, together with ''Piedmont'', in the Expedition of the Thousand, are preserved, respectively, inside the [[Museum of the Risorgimento (Rome)|Central Museum of the Risorgimento at the Vittoriano]] in Rome<ref name="romartguide.it">{{cite web|url=http://www.romartguide.it/italiano/schedemusei/MuseoDelVittoriano.html|title=Museo centrale del Risorgimento – Complesso del Vittoriano|access-date=7 March 2016|language=it|archive-date=5 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305105630/http://www.romartguide.it/italiano/schedemusei/MuseoDelVittoriano.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and the Museum of the Risorgimento in [[Palermo]].{{sfn|Busico|2005|p=197}}
[[File:Italian-unification.gif|thumb|Animated map of the [[Italian unification]] from 1829 to 1871]]

On 17 March 1861, there was the [[proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy]], a formal act that sanctioned, with a normative act of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, the birth of the unified Kingdom of Italy.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.sunuraghe.it/2013/regno-di-sardegna-regno-ditalia-repubblica-italiana |title=Regno di Sardegna, Regno d'Italia, Repubblica Italiana |date=19 March 2013 |access-date=22 January 2021 |archive-date=26 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126191843/https://www.sunuraghe.it/2013/regno-di-sardegna-regno-ditalia-repubblica-italiana |url-status=live }}</ref> On 15 April 1861, the flag of the [[Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia]] was declared the flag of the newly formed Kingdom of Italy.<ref>Regio decreto n. 2072 del 24 settembre 1923, convertito nella legge n. 2264 del 24 dicembre 1923</ref> The tricolour therefore continued to be the national flag also of the new State, although not officially recognised by a specific law,{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=26}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.radiomarconi.com/marconi/bandiere/storia_bandiera.html|title=Storia della bandiera italiana|access-date=14 January 2016|archive-date=16 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160116020632/http://www.radiomarconi.com/marconi/bandiere/storia_bandiera.html|url-status=usurped}}</ref> but regulated with regard to the shape of military banners.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=201}}{{sfn|Bellocchi|2008|p=105}}{{sfn|Busico|2005|p=45}} This Italian tricolour, with the armorial bearings of the former Royal [[House of Savoy]], was the first national flag and lasted in that form for 85 years until the [[birth of the Italian Republic]] in 1946.
[[File:Einzug Vittorio Emanuels in Venedig 2.jpg|thumb|King [[Victor Emmanuel II of Italy]] entering [[Venice]] during the [[Third Italian War of Independence]] (1866) among a profusion of tricolour flags]]

The ''tricolore'' had a universal, transversal meaning, shared by both [[Monarchism|monarchists]] and [[Republicanism|republicans]], [[Progressivism|progressives]] and [[Conservatism|conservatives]] and [[Guelphs and Ghibellines|Guelphs as well as by the Ghibellines]]. The tricolour was chosen as the flag of a united Italy also for this reason.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=207}} After the Unification of Italy, the use of the tricolour became increasingly widespread among the population{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=219}} as the flag and its colours began to appear on the labels of commercial products, school notebooks, the first cars and cigar packages.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=219}} Even among the aristocrats it was successful; the most important families often had a flag bearer installed on the main façade of their mansions where they placed the Italian tricolour.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=219}} It then began to appear outside public buildings, schools, judicial offices and post offices.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=219}} During this period, tricolour bands were introduced for mayors and the jurors of the assize court during this period.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=219}}

Following the [[Third Italian War of Independence]] in 1866, [[Veneto]] and [[Friuli]] were annexed to the Kingdom of Italy; the entry of the [[Italian Army]] troops into [[Venice]], which took place on 19 October 1866, was greeted by a profusion of tricolour flags.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=212}}{{sfn|Busico|2005|p=53}} Since the promulgation of a resolution of its municipal council, dated 5 November 1866, [[Vicenza]] is the only city in Italy to have adopted the tricolour flag as its own [[gonfalon]], instead of the civic banner, loaded with the coat of arms of the municipality.<ref name="vicenza">{{cite web|url=http://www.ilgiornaledivicenza.it/stories/1306_3/232852_bandiera_invece_del_gonfalone_vicenza__lunica_citt_ditalia/|title=Il Giornale di Vicenza.it – Dossier – Vicenza – Italia 150° – 3 – Bandiera invece del gonfalone. Vicenza è l'unica città d'Italia|access-date=14 January 2016|language=it|archive-date=16 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150316163209/http://www.ilgiornaledivicenza.it/stories/1306_3/232852_bandiera_invece_del_gonfalone_vicenza__lunica_citt_ditalia/|url-status=dead}}</ref> The Venetian city decided to patriotically change the nature of its sign shortly before the visit of King Victor Emmanuel II, who arrived in the city for the awarding of the [[Gold Medal of Military Valour]] earned by the Venetian municipality with the [[battle of Monte Berico]], fought on 10 June 1848 in the outskirts of the city. The occasion of the Sovereign's visit, Vicenza presented Victor Emmanuel II not with his own banner but, a decision from which his subsequent resolution was to originate, the Italian tricolour.<ref name="vicenza"/>
[[File:Porta Pia Pagliari Vizzotto.JPG|thumb|left|A moment of the fighting that led to the [[capture of Rome|conquest of Rome by the Italian Army]] (1870)]]

During the [[Battle of Custoza (1866)|battle of Custoza]] (24 June 1866), part of the Third Italian War of Independence, near Oliosi, today part of the municipality of [[Castelnuovo del Garda]], the soldiers of the 44th [[regiment]] of the "Forlì" [[brigade]] saved the tricolour war flag from the capture of the [[Austro-Hungarian Army]]. In order not to hand over their military banner to the enemy, they tore the drape of the tricolour flag into 13 pieces, divided among those present, and hid those shreds of cloth under the jacket. After the war it was possible to recover 11 of the 13 portions of the cloth and thus reconstruct the flag, named ''Tricolore di Oliosi''.<ref name=corriere-cherasco>{{cite web|url=http://www.corriere.it/unita-italia-150/11_giugno_03/nese-bandiera-d-italia-fatta-a-pezzi_5c495ada-8dc4-11e0-b332-ace1587d6ad6.shtml|title=La bandiera fatta a pezzi (per salvarla dal nemico)|access-date=10 February 2017|language=it|archive-date=31 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170731032219/http://www.corriere.it/unita-italia-150/11_giugno_03/nese-bandiera-d-italia-fatta-a-pezzi_5c495ada-8dc4-11e0-b332-ace1587d6ad6.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref> Every year, on the third Sunday in June, the remembrance of the war episode is celebrated in Oliosi.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.larena.it/territori/garda-baldo/castelnuovo/giorni-del-tricolore-oliosi-festeggia-la-sua-bandiera-1.3085319?refresh_ce#scroll=400|title=Giorni del tricolore Oliosi festeggia la sua bandiera|newspaper=L'Arena.it|language=it|access-date=4 February 2015|last1=s. p. a|first1=Società Athesis|archive-date=5 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160205003736/http://www.larena.it/territori/garda-baldo/castelnuovo/giorni-del-tricolore-oliosi-festeggia-la-sua-bandiera-1.3085319?refresh_ce#scroll=400|url-status=live}}</ref> At the [[Festa della Repubblica|military parade on 2 June 2011]], held in [[via dei Fori Imperiali]] in Rome on the occasion of the celebrations for the 150th [[anniversary of the unification of Italy]], the ''Tricolore di Oliosi'' was paraded on a [[cannon]] [[Gun carriage|carriage]] along with five other historic Italian flags.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.corriere.it/unita-italia-150/11_giugno_03/nese-bandiera-d-italia-fatta-a-pezzi_5c495ada-8dc4-11e0-b332-ace1587d6ad6.shtml|title=La bandiera fatta a pezzi (per salvarla dal nemico) Il vessillo di Oliosi a Roma con i tricolori storici|language=it|access-date=4 February 2015|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304083025/http://www.corriere.it/unita-italia-150/11_giugno_03/nese-bandiera-d-italia-fatta-a-pezzi_5c495ada-8dc4-11e0-b332-ace1587d6ad6.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref>

Massimo d'Azeglio was among the first to recognize the importance of the tricolour flag as a tool for forming a widespread national awareness.{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=26}} In this regard he declared:{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=26}} "The flag is a privileged symbol in the pedagogy of a nation". Tricolour flags then greeted the Italian Army during the march toward Rome, which ended with the [[capture of Rome]] on 20 September 1870, and the annexation of [[Lazio]] to the Kingdom of Italy.{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=26}}{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=214}}{{sfn|Busico|2005|p=53}} Rome officially became the capital of Italy on 1 January 1871, while the establishment of the royal court and the Savoy government took place on 6 July of the same year. From this date, the Italian flag flies from the highest flagpole of the [[Quirinal Palace]].{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|pp=216–217}}
[[File:Cartolina dei Carabinieri Reali spedita dalla Colonia Eritrea dell'Asmara (1907).jpg|thumb|Postcard of the [[Carabinieri]] sent from the [[Italian Eritrea]] in 1907 and depicting an eagle flying an Italian flag]]

The first [[Italian Empire|Italian colony]] was founded in 1882, the [[Assab]] bay, which became the first outpost of the future [[Italian Eritrea]], where the flag of Italy waved in an Italian colony for the first time.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=222}} Subsequently, the tricolour also waved in the [[Italian Somaliland]], in the [[Italian Libya]], in the [[Italian concession of Tientsin]] and in the [[Italian Islands of the Aegean]].

In 1897, the Italian flag had its 100th anniversary. The centennial celebration in [[Reggio Emilia]], where the tricolour was created on 7 January 100 years earlier,{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=226}} [[Giosuè Carducci]], who later became the first Italian to win the [[Nobel Prize in Literature]] in 1906,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Giosue-Carducci|title=Giosue Carducci {{!}} Italian poet|work=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=22 August 2017|archive-date=22 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170822225421/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Giosue-Carducci|url-status=live}}</ref> defined the flag as "blessed" and kissed it at the end of the speech.{{sfn|Busico|2005|p=13}}{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=226}}{{sfn|Villa|2010|pp=28–29}}
[[File:XXXIV Fiesta Nacional del Inmigrante - desfile - colectividad italiana.JPG|thumb|left|[[Italian Argentines]] during the opening [[parade]] of the XXXIV [[Immigrant's Festival]]]]

Around 1880 began large waves of [[Italian diaspora]], especially towards the Americans. The tricolour, often carried in the suitcases of migrants, began to wave outside the national borders, especially in the [[Little Italy|Little Italies]] that were forming around the world.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=227}} This bond with the land of origin did not fade with the passing of generations—often still alive in the third or fourth generation.{{sfn|Tarozzi|1999|p=297}} Several years earlier in 1861, [[president of the United States|U.S. president]] [[Abraham Lincoln]] reviewed some military units that were participating in the [[American Civil War]]—among them was a [[Garibaldi Guard]], made up of Italian immigrants, which had as its military banner the tricolour flag.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=227}}

In 1885, the tricolour jersey was introduced for the cyclist who won the title of champion of Italy.{{sfn|Tarozzi|1999|p=320}} Conceptually, this recognition is similar to the placement of a tricolour shield, the ''[[scudetto]]'', on the jerseys of the team champion of Italy in [[Association football|football]], [[Rugby football|rugby]], [[volleyball]] and [[basketball]].{{sfn|Tarozzi|1999|p=320}} The idea of affixing a ''scudetto'' on the shirts of the winning sports teams of the respective national championships was [[Gabriele D'Annunzio]].<ref name="scudetto">{{cite web|author=Paolo Pierangelo|language=it|url=https://www.fantagazzetta.com/blogs/18_04_2013/150-anni-di-dannunziolideatore-dello-scudetto-sulle-maglie-da-gioco-170340|title=150 anni di D'Annunzio, l'ideatore dello scudetto sulle maglie da gioco|access-date=19 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020190901/https://www.fantagazzetta.com/blogs/18_04_2013/150-anni-di-dannunziolideatore-dello-scudetto-sulle-maglie-da-gioco-170340|archive-date=20 October 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> In football, the first sport to use it, it was introduced in 1924.<ref name="scudetto"/>

In 1889, in the culinary field, the [[pizza Margherita]] was invented, named in honour of Queen [[Margherita of Savoy]], whose main ingredients recall the tricolour flag. Green for the [[basil]], white for the [[mozzarella]] and red for the [[tomato sauce]].{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=220}} With the first [[trade union]] struggles at the end of the 19th century, the Italian flag began to wave in the hands of the demonstrators during [[Strike action|strikes]].{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=228}} Even during the struggles perpetrated by the [[Fasci Siciliani]] between 1892 and 1894 there was a profusion of Italian flag.{{sfn|Tarozzi|1999|p=12}} They were contrasted by the tricolours of the police sent by the government to quell the trade union revolts.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=228}} On 25 April 1900, the Italian flag flew in the [[Franz Josef Land]], an archipelago located north of the [[Russian Empire]] between the [[Arctic Ocean]] and the [[Kara Sea]],{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=231}}{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=29}} an expedition organized in the [[Arctic|arctic areas]] led by explorer [[Umberto Cagni]].{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=231}}

On 29 July 1900, King [[Umberto I of Italy]], who succeeded his father Victor Emmanuel II in 1878, was assassinated in [[Monza]] at a public ceremony with the streets flagged with tricolours.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://milano.corriere.it/notizie/cronaca/20_luglio_15/docufilm-ultimo-giorno-del-re-120-anni-monza-rivive-attentato-umberto-primo-a64db7ec-c66e-11ea-a52c-6b2a448f1d2c.shtml|title="L'ultimo giorno del Re": 120 anni dopo Monza rivive l'attentato a Umberto I|date=15 July 2020|access-date=15 March 2021|language=it|archive-date=15 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210615195651/https://milano.corriere.it/notizie/cronaca/20_luglio_15/docufilm-ultimo-giorno-del-re-120-anni-monza-rivive-attentato-umberto-primo-a64db7ec-c66e-11ea-a52c-6b2a448f1d2c.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref> The king was shot four times by the [[Italian-American]] [[anarchist]] [[Gaetano Bresci]]. Bresci claimed he wanted to avenge the people killed in Milan during the suppression of the [[Bava Beccaris massacre|riots of May 1898]].<ref>{{cite book| author=Christopher Duggan| title=The Force of Destiny. A History of Italy Since 1796| date=2007| isbn=978-0-713-99709-5| page=349| publisher=Allen Lane}}</ref> Umberto I was succeeded by his son [[Victor Emmanuel III of Italy]].

=== The two world wars and the interwar period ===
[[File:Bandiera italiana con in mezzo lo scudo di Savoia (croce bianca in campo rosso).jpg|thumb|Italian flag dating from [[World War I]]]]

Italy entered [[World War I]] in 1915 with the aim of completing national unity, and for this reason, the Italian intervention in World War I is also considered the [[Fourth Italian War of Independence]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.piacenzaprimogenita150.it/index.php?it/176/il-1861-e-le-quattro-guerre-per-lindipendenza-1848-1918|title=Il 1861 e le quattro Guerre per l'Indipendenza (1848–1918)|date=6 March 2015|language=it|access-date=12 March 2021|archive-date=14 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414030636/http://www.piacenzaprimogenita150.it/index.php?it/176/il-1861-e-le-quattro-guerre-per-lindipendenza-1848-1918|url-status=live}}</ref> in a historiographical perspective that identifies in the latter the conclusion of the [[unification of Italy]], whose military actions began during the [[revolutions of 1848]] with the [[First Italian War of Independence]].<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite web|url=http://www.beniculturali.it/mibac/export/MiBAC/sito-MiBAC/Contenuti/MibacUnif/Eventi/visualizza_asset.html_1239896580.html|title=La Grande Guerra nei manifesti italiani dell'epoca|language=it|access-date=12 March 2021|archive-date=23 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923183754/http://www.beniculturali.it/mibac/export/MiBAC/sito-MiBAC/Contenuti/MibacUnif/Eventi/visualizza_asset.html_1239896580.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_LntMIUOXngC&q=%22quarta+guerra+d%27indipendenza%22&pg=PA41|title=Il Manuale di Storia in Italia, di Piergiovanni Genovesi|isbn=9788856818680|language=it|access-date=12 March 2021|last1=Genovesi|first1=Piergiovanni|date=11 June 2009|publisher=FrancoAngeli }}</ref> King [[Victor Emmanuel III of Italy]], the day the Kingdom of Italy entered the war, appeared from the balcony of the [[Quirinal Palace]] while waving the tricolour shouting "Long live Italy".{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=238}} Victor Emmanuel III then made an official proclamation shortly before leaving for the [[Italian front (World War I)|Italian war front]], which read, in its final part:{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=239}}{{sfn|Villa|2010|pp=29–30}}

{{blockquote|text=Soldiers of land and sea! [...] To us the glory of planting the tricolour of Italy on the sacred boundary that nature placed on the borders of our homeland, to us the glory of finally completing the work with so much heroism begun by our fathers.<ref group=Note>Soldati di terra e di mare! [...] A voi la gloria di piantare il Tricolore d'Italia su i termini sacri che natura pose a confine della Patria nostra, a voi la gloria di compiere, finalmente, l'opera con tanto eroismo iniziata dai nostri padri.</ref>|source=Victor Emmanuel III of Italy}}

The tricolour flag was a symbol in both the trenches and in the civil sphere.{{sfn|Tarozzi|1999|p=235}} The colours green, white and red were widely used as a stimulus to the general mobilization and moral sustenance of the civilian population, which was climbing a path that would have led to a very difficult situation, characterized by many deprivations.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=238}} In the trenches, the tricolour was a fundamental symbol to spur the soldiers, while on the home front it was important for compacting and strengthening civil society.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=238}}
[[File:Tricolore trieste.JPG|thumb|left|A woman, [[Italia turrita|representing Italy]], celebrates the Italian victory over [[Austria-Hungary]] in World War I with a tricolour over the newly conquered city of [[Trieste]].]]

During the [[flight over Vienna]], on 9 August 1918 aerial flyer [[Gabriele D'Annunzio]] launched the tricolour leaflet over Vienna with which he exhorted the enemy to surrender and end the war.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=243}}{{sfn|Busico|2005|p=63}} The Italian troops then entered [[Trieste]] in November 1918 following the victory in the [[battle of Vittorio Veneto]], which ended the conflict with the retreat and the definitive defeat of the Austrians. The War Bulletin No. 1267 of 3 November 1918 by General [[Armando Diaz]] announced the ''[[Bollettino della Vittoria]]'' and the ''[[Bollettino della Vittoria Navale]]'' by few days, read:{{sfn|Busico|2005|p=65}}

{{blockquote|text=Our troops have occupied [[Trento]] and landed in Trieste. The tricolour flies over the [[Buonconsiglio Castle]] and the [[Trieste Cathedral|San Giusto tower]].<ref group=Note>Le nostre truppe hanno occupato Trento e sono sbarcate a Trieste. Il tricolore sventola sul castello del Buonconsiglio e sulla torre di San Giusto</ref>|source=Armando Diaz}}

After World War I, the Italian flag was also a symbol of the ''[[Impresa di Fiume]]'', led by D'Annunzio, and a consequence of the so-called "[[mutilated victory]]", a term used to describe the dissatisfaction concerning territorial rewards in favour of Italy at the end of World War I, shouted: "raise the flag: wave the tricolour!"{{sfn|Busico|2005|p=65}} During the [[Italian Regency of Carnaro]] (1919–1920), a state entity that administered the city of [[Fiume]], now part of modern-day [[Croatia]], D'Annunzio defined the Italian flag "the garment of the eternal nation" and urged the Italians to rebel against those responsible for the [[Battle of Caporetto|defeat of Caporetto]] by waving the "tricolour across the sky".{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=31}}

In particular, Italy, as a peace agreement at the conclusion of World War I, signed the [[Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919)|Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye]] (1919) and the [[Treaty of Rapallo (1920)|Treaty of Rapallo]] (1920), which allowed the annexation of [[Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol|Trentino Alto-Adige]], [[Julian March]], [[Istria]], [[Kvarner Gulf|Kvarner]], with the cities of [[Trieste]], [[Trento]], [[Gorizia]], [[Pula|Pola]], as well as the [[Dalmatia]]n city of [[Zadar|Zara]].{{sfn|Tobia|2011|p=55}} The subsequent [[Treaty of Rome (1924)|Treaty of Rome]] (1924) led to the annexation of the city of Fiume to Italy.{{sfn|Tobia|2011|p=55}}

The coffin of the [[Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (Italy)|Italian Unknown Soldier]] was placed on the [[gun carriage]] of a [[cannon]] and wrapped in a tricolour flag during its journey from the [[Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta, Aquileia]] to the [[Altare della Patria]] in Rome, which took place in 1921 on a [[Goods wagon|railway hearse]]. This historic flag is kept inside the [[Museum of the Risorgimento (Rome)|Central Museum of the Risorgimento at the Vittoriano]] in Rome.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=285}}

[[File:Flag of Italian Fascism.svg|thumb|right|Italian Fascist flag during the 1920s bearing the [[fasces]].]]
[[File:War flag of the Italian Social Republic.svg|thumb|{{FIAV|historical}} The War flag of the [[Italian Social Republic]] (1943–1945)]]

With the [[March on Rome]] in 1922, and the establishment of the [[Italian fascism|fascist dictatorship]], the Italian flag lost its symbolic uniqueness partly obscured by the iconography of the regime.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=247}}{{sfn|Tarozzi|1999|p=257}} When it was used, as the symbol of the [[National Fascist Party]], its history was distorted, given that the tricolour was born as a symbol of freedom and [[Civil and political rights|civil rights]].{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=243}} Despite this supporting role, with the royal decree nº 2072 of 24 September 1923 and subsequently with the law nº2264 of 24 December 1925, the tricolour officially became the national flag of the Kingdom of Italy.{{sfn|Busico|2005|p=65}}{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=31}} On 31 January 1923, the salute to the flag by the students of Italian schools was instituted by the [[Ministry of Public Education (Italy)|Ministry of Public Education]] whereby every Saturday morning, at the end of the lesson, the students paid homage to the flag with the [[Roman salute]] and with the performance of patriotic musical pieces.{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=31}}

In 1926, the Fascist regime attempted to have the Italian national flag redesigned by having the [[fasces]], the symbol used by the Fascist movement, included on the flag.<ref name="Smith">Mack Smith, Denis ''Italy and its Monarchy'' (p. 265) Yale University Press, 1989</ref> This attempt by the Fascist government to change the Italian flag to incorporate the fasces was stopped by strong opposition to the proposal by Italian monarchists.<ref name="Smith" /> The Fascist government raised the national tricolour flag along with a Fascist black flag in public ceremonies.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=248}}<ref name="Gentile">Gentile, Emilio ''The sacralization of politics in fascist Italy'' (p. 119) Harvard University Press, 1996</ref>
[[File:Flag of Italian Committee of National Liberation.svg|thumb|left|{{FIAV|historical}} Flag of the [[National Liberation Committee]] (1943–1945)]]

In 1926, an Italian flag was first brought to the [[North Pole]] by the [[Norge (airship)|Norge airship]] during the expedition led by [[Umberto Nobile]] and [[Roald Amundsen]];<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.repubblica.it/ambiente/2016/05/13/news/nobile_spedizione-139724411/|title=I dirigibili, il tricolore e la tenda rossa: il Polo Nord di Umberto Nobile, pilota aristocratico|date=13 May 2016|language=it|access-date=28 June 2017|archive-date=31 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170731042607/http://www.repubblica.it/ambiente/2016/05/13/news/nobile_spedizione-139724411/|url-status=live}}</ref> the tricolours then greeted [[Italo Balbo]] in his oceanic [[seaplane]] crossings.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|pp=249–251}}

The [[Azione Cattolica]], which made the Italian flag its banner in 1931, grouped the children of its organization dedicated to children into three categories, which were based on age group and colours of the Italian flag: "green flames", "white flames" and "red flames".{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=31}} In August 1933, the Italian [[ocean liner]] [[SS Rex]], which had just won the [[Blue Riband]], arrived in [[New York City]] setting the record for Atlantic Ocean crossing in the shortest time (four days) was greeted by the waving of tricolour flags.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=348}}

Trains covered with tricolour flags carried the settlers to the new cities founded after the reclamation of the [[Pontine Marshes]], while on 5 May 1936 there was the solemn flag-raising in [[Addis Ababa]], [[Italian Ethiopia]], which greeted the founding of the [[Italian Empire]].{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|pp=252–253}} The flag in Addis Ababa was then lowered in November 1941 at the end of the [[East African campaign (World War II)|East African campaign]], which was fought during [[World War II]].{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=259}}
[[File:Fratelli d italia 1944 RSI.jpg|thumb|{{Lang|it|[[Il Canto degli Italiani]]}} and [[Goffredo Mameli]] remembered together with the period of the [[unification of Italy]] on a propaganda poster of the Italian Social Republic. In the background, a tricolour is waving.]]

Italy entered World War II on 10 June 1940 with the speech by [[Benito Mussolini]] delivered from the main balcony of [[Palazzo Venezia]] in Rome, but the climate was different from that which characterized Italy's entry into World War I.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=256}} The king did not appear on the balcony of the Quirinal Palace waving the flag as he did in 1915.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=256}}

During World War II, the Italian flag came back strongly after the [[Armistice of Cassibile]] of 8 September 1943, where it was taken as a symbol by the two sides who faced each other in the [[Italian Civil War]]{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=31}}{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=267}} in an attempt to recall the unification of Italy and its cultural tradition.{{sfn|Tarozzi|1999|p=337}} In particular, it was used by the [[Italian resistance movement|partisans]] as a symbol of the struggle against tyrants and emblem of the dream of a free Italy.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=267}} Even the [[Communism|communist]] [[Italian partisan brigades|partisan brigades]], which had the [[Red flag (politics)|red flag]] as the official banner, often waved the Italian flag.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=267}}

Tricolour flags were also the official banners of the [[Italian Partisan Republics]] and of the [[National Liberation Committee]], as well as their antagonists, the Republicans{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=268}} in an attempt to recall the period of the [[unification of Italy]] and its cultural background.{{sfn|Tarozzi|1999|p=337}} The national flag of the short-lived Fascist state in [[northern Italy]], the [[Italian Social Republic]] (1943–1945), or "Republic of Salò" as it was commonly known, was identical to the flag of the modern [[Italian Republic]], as both republics used the previous flag of the [[Kingdom of Italy]] with the coat of arms of [[House of Savoy|Savoy]] removed.

This flag was rarely seen, while the war flag, charged with a silver/black eagle clutching horizontally placed ''fascio littorio'' (literally, bundles of the [[lictors]]), was very common in propaganda.<ref name="Forze Armate' 1944">''Foggia della bandiera nazionale e della bandiera di combattimento delle Forze Armate'' decreto legislativo del Duce della Repubblica Sociale Italiana e Capo del Governo n. 141 del 28 gennaio 1944, XXII EF (GU 107 del 6 maggio 1944 XXII EF)</ref> Italian fascism derived its name from the fasces, which symbolised ''[[imperium]]'', or power and authority, in [[ancient Rome]]. Roman legions had carried the [[Aquila (Roman)|''aquila'']], or eagle, as ''signa militaria''.

The Italian tricolour was also used for propaganda. The Italian Social Republic, for example, used it on a poster depicting [[Goffredo Mameli]], the author of the lyrics of {{Lang|it|[[Il Canto degli Italiani]]}}, the [[national anthem]] of Italy from 1946, with an unsheathed sword and a tricolour behind him while he launches towards an assault.{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=32}} This poster bears the words "Brothers of Italy / Italy has woken!" and "1849–1944 The spirit of Goffredo Mameli/Defend the Social Republic".{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=32}}
[[File:Flag of SFR Yugoslav Italian Minority.svg|thumb|left|{{FIAV|historical}} Flag of the Italian ethnic minority in Yugoslavia]]

On 25 April 1945, the government of Mussolini fell. This event is commemorated by [[Liberation Day (Italy)|Liberation Day]]. With the liberation, the tricolour appeared in public places such as the towers of town halls, on bell towers of churches, and in factories.{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=32}} Remembering these events, [[Francesco Cossiga]], at the time [[President of the Senate (Italy)|president of the Senate of the Republic]], in a speech delivered on 28 June 1984, said:{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=32}}

{{blockquote|text=With the tricolour of Italy the homeland was resurrected and republican democracy was established, which today peacefully unites all Italians.<ref group=Note>Con il tricolore d'Italia risorse la Patria e si affermò la democrazia repubblicana che oggi unisce pacificamente gli italiani tutti.</ref>|source=Francesco Cossiga}}

In the eastern Italian territories occupied by the Yugoslav partisan militias, the Italian flag was used with a red star in the centre as a model of the flag used by the partisan [[Garibaldi Brigades]] initially in the city of [[Fiume]] in 1943, then extended to all the territories where the Italian ethnic minority ([[Istrian Italians]] and [[Dalmatian Italians]]) resided. Having entered [[Yugoslavia]], this flag remained official until 1992, when it was officially replaced by the flag adopted by the Italian state.<ref>Croatian Official Gazette No. 65/1991 and No. 27/1992</ref><ref>Croatian Official Gazette No. 15/1997</ref><ref>Official Gazette of the Italian Republic No. 104 of 7 May 1998</ref>

Following the defeat of Italy in World War II and the [[Paris Peace Treaties, 1947|Paris Treaties of 1947]], [[Istria]], [[Kvarner Gulf|Kvarner]] and most of [[Julian March]], with the cities of Pola, Fiume and Zara, passed to Yugoslavia, and after the latter's dissolution, to Croatia, causing the [[Istrian-Dalmatian exodus]] which led to the emigration of between 230,000 and 350,000 of local ethnic [[Italians]] ([[Istrian Italians]] and [[Dalmatian Italians]]), the others being ethnic Slovenians, ethnic Croatians, and ethnic [[Istro-Romanians]], choosing to maintain Italian citizenship.<ref>{{cite web |first=Benedetta |last=Tobagi |url=http://www.treccani.it/scuola/lezioni/storia/la_repubblica_italiana.html |title=La Repubblica italiana &#124; Treccani, il portale del sapere |publisher=Treccani.it |access-date=28 January 2015 |archive-date=5 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305001726/http://www.treccani.it/scuola/lezioni/storia/la_repubblica_italiana.html |url-status=live }}</ref> After World War II, Gorizia was divided in two: one part remained with Italy while the other, which was renamed "[[Nova Gorica]]", passed first to Yugoslavia and then to [[Slovenia]].<ref name=trattato>{{cite web|url= https://www.istrianet.org/istria/history/1800-present/ww2/1947_treaty-index.htm|title=Treaty of Peace with Italy – Paris, 10 February 1947|access-date= 15 March 2018}}</ref>

=== Italian Republic ===
[[File:Flag of Italy.svg|thumb|{{FIAV|normal}} The flag of [[Italy|Italian Republic]]]]
On 13 June 1946, the [[1946 Italian institutional referendum|Italian Republic was officially founded]] and the last [[king of Italy]] [[Umberto II of Italy|Umberto II]], who succeeded his father Victor Emmanuel III on 9 May 1946, left the country on 13 June into exile. On the same day, the tricolour with the Savoy coat of arms in the centre was lowered from the Quirinal Palace.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cristinasiccardi.it/2-giugno-ricordo-di-un-galantuomo-umberto-ii-di-savoia-ultimo-re-ditalia-2/|title=2 giugno. Ricordo di un galantuomo: Umberto II di Savoia, ultimo Re d'Italia|access-date=15 March 2021|language=it|archive-date=7 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407211235/https://www.cristinasiccardi.it/2-giugno-ricordo-di-un-galantuomo-umberto-ii-di-savoia-ultimo-re-ditalia-2/|url-status=live}}</ref> The Italian flag was modified with the decree of the president of the Council of Ministers No. 1 of 19 June 1946. Compared to the monarchic banner, the Savoy coat of arms was eliminated.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=273}}{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=33}}{{sfn|Tarozzi|1999|p=333}} This decision was later confirmed in the session of 24 March 1947 by the [[Constituent Assembly of Italy|Constituent Assembly]], which decreed the insertion of article 12 of the [[Italian Constitution]], subsequently ratified by the [[Italian Parliament]], which states:{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=33}}{{sfn|Tarozzi|1999|pp=337–338}}{{sfn|Busico|2005|p=71}}

{{blockquote|[...] The flag of the Republic is the Italian tricolour: green, white, and red, in three vertical bands of equal dimensions. [...]<ref name=constitution/>|author=Article 12 of Constitution of Italian Republic}}

The members of the Constituent Assembly were deeply moved when they approved this article, and as a sign of joy and respect, stood up and applauded at length shortly after the approval.{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=33}} Shortly before the officialisation of the flag in the constitution, on 7 January 1947, the tricolour turned 150.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=272}} The role of master of ceremonies that belonged to [[Giosuè Carducci]] 50 years earlier was assumed by [[Luigi Salvatorelli]], whose speech, uttered during the Reggio Emilia official celebrations in the presence of [[Enrico De Nicola]], Provisional Head of State, alluded to the delicate phase that post-war Italy was going through{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=272}} with particular reference to the humiliations suffered by the country in World War II:{{sfn|Tarozzi|1999|p=341}}{{sfn|Busico|2005|p=69}} 
[[File:Tricolore (3) (5799312802).jpg|thumb|left|This Italian flag entered the ''[[Guinness World Records]]'' due to its length.]]
{{blockquote|text=The tricolour is not lowered, it will not be lowered. It was re-blessed, rededicated by the insurrection of the patriots, by the blood of the partisans and soldiers of Italy fighting against Nazi-fascism in the new liberation struggle.<ref group=Note>Il tricolore non è abbassato, non sarà abbassato. Esso è stato ribenedetto, riconsacrato dalla insurrezione dei patrioti, dal sangue dei partigiani e dei soldati d'Italia combattenti contro il nazi-fascismo nella nuova lotta di liberazione.</ref>|source=Luigi Salvatorelli}}

The Republican tricolour was then officially and solemnly delivered to the Italian military corps on 4 November 1947 on the occasion of [[National Unity and Armed Forces Day]].{{sfn|Tarozzi|1999|p=363}} The universally adopted ratio is 2:3, while the war flag is squared (1:1). Each ''[[comune]]'' also has a ''[[gonfalone]]'' bearing its coat of arms. On 27 May 1949, a law was passed that described and regulated the way the flag was displayed outside public buildings and during national holidays.{{sfn|Busico|2005|p=71}}

During the republican era, the tricolour greeted important events in Italian history. The flag was hoisted at the top of [[K2]] during the [[1954 Italian Karakoram expedition to K2|Italian expedition in 1954]] that led [[Achille Compagnoni]] and [[Lino Lacedelli]] to be the first people to reach the summit of this mountain—the second highest in the world after [[Mount Everest]], and was brought in 2011 to the [[International Space Station]] by astronaut [[Roberto Vittori]] on the occasion of the 150th [[anniversary of the unification of Italy]].{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=33}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.asi.it/it/news/vittori-porta-nello-spazio-il-tricolore|language=it|title=Vittori porta nello Spazio il tricolore|access-date=17 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160225154824/http://www.asi.it/it/news/vittori-porta-nello-spazio-il-tricolore|archive-date=25 February 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> A profusion of Italian flags greeted the return of Trieste to Italy in 1954, which took place following the agreements signed between the governments of Italy, the [[United Kingdom]], the [[United States]] and Yugoslavia concerning the status of the [[Free Territory of Trieste]], an independent territory situated between northern Italy and Yugoslavia. The territory, under the [[List of United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1 to 100|direct responsibility]] of the [[United Nations Security Council]] in the aftermath of World War II, established on 10 February 1947 by a protocol of the [[Treaty of Peace with Italy, 1947|Treaty of Peace with Italy]].{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=33}}

The Italian [[naval ensign]] comprises the national flag defaced with the arms of the [[Italian Navy]]; the [[mercantile marine]] (and private citizens at sea) use the civil ensign, differenced by the absence of the [[mural crown]] and the lion holding open the gospel, bearing the inscription, <small>PAX TIBI MARCE EVANGELISTA MEVS</small> instead of a sword.<ref>Decreto legislativo del capo provvisorio dello stato n. 1305 del 9 novembre 1947 (GU 275 del 29 novembre 1947)</ref> The shield is quartered, symbolic of the four great [[thalassocracy|thalassocracies]] of Italy, the ''[[repubbliche marinare]]'' of [[Venice]] (represented by the lion ''passant'', top left), [[Genoa]] (top right), [[Amalfi]] (bottom left), and [[Pisa]] (represented by their respective crosses); the ''[[rostrata]]'' crown was proposed by [[Domenico Cavagnari|Admiral Cavagnari]] in 1939 to acknowledge the Navy's origins in ancient Rome.<ref>[http://www.marina.difesa.it/storia/Tradizioni/bandiera.asp La Bandiera della Marina Militare] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080915020611/http://www.marina.difesa.it/storia/tradizioni/bandiera.asp |date=15 September 2008 }} Le nostre tradizioni, Ministero della Difesa (retrieved 5 October 2008)</ref>

The tricolour flag was the official banner of the [[Trust Territory of Somaliland|Italian Trust Administration of Somalia]] (1950–1960), which was granted on a [[United Nations trust territories|UN mandate]], and which was the first [[United Nations peacekeeping|peacekeeping]] mission of the [[Italian Army]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.carabinieri.it/arma/oggi/missioni-all%27estero/vol-ii-1936---2001/parte-i/1950---1958/in-somalia|title=1950–1958. In Somalia per l'AFIS: la prima missione di pace|access-date=9 March 2017|language=it|archive-date=5 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170205065928/http://www.carabinieri.it/arma/oggi/missioni-all%27estero/vol-ii-1936---2001/parte-i/1950---1958/in-somalia|url-status=live}}</ref> The tricolour continues to represent Italy in all peacekeeping missions in which the Italian Armed Forces participate.{{sfn|Bellocchi|2008|pp=49–63}}{{sfn|Busico|2005|p=73}}
[[File:Festa del Tricolore, 07-01-2004.jpg|thumb|The former president of the Italian Republic, [[Carlo Azeglio Ciampi]], honors the flag of [[Cispadane Republic]], first Italian flag, during the [[Tricolour Day]] on 7 January 2004 in Reggio Emilia.]]

In 1997, on its bicentenary, 7 January was declared [[Tricolour Day]]; it is intended as a celebration, though not a public holiday.<ref>''Celebrazione nazionale del bicentenario della prima bandiera nazionale'' [http://www.parlamento.it/parlam/leggi/96671l.htm Legge n. 671 del 31 dicembre 1996] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041228080620/http://www.parlamento.it/parlam/leggi/96671l.htm |date=28 December 2004 }} (GU 1 del 2 gennaio 1997)</ref> On 31 December 1996, with the same law that established the Tricolour Day, a celebration held on 7 January of each year in memory of the adoption of the red, white and green flag by the Cispadane Republic (7 January 1797), established a national committee of 20 members that would have the objective of organising the first solemn commemoration of the birth of the Italian flag.<ref name="miolegale">Article 1 of the law n. 671 of 31 December 1996 ("National celebration of the bicentenary of the first national flag")</ref>

Among the events celebrating the bicentenary of the Italian flag, was the longest tricolour in history, which also entered the ''Guinness World Records'' at {{convert|7536|m2|ft2}} long, {{convert|4.8|m|ft}} wide and had an area of {{convert|7536|m2|ft2}}, and paraded in Rome from the [[Colosseum]] to the [[Capitoline Hill]].{{sfn|Busico|2005|p=235}}

During the celebrations for the 140 years of national unity, on 4 November 2001, in [[San Martino della Battaglia]], during the [[National Unity and Armed Forces Day]], in reference to the tricolour, the former president of the Italian Republic, [[Carlo Azeglio Ciampi]], said:{{sfn|Busico|2005|p=71}}

{{blockquote|text=Let us work to ensure that every family, in every home, there is a tricolour to testify the feelings that have united us since the days of the glorious unification of Italy. The tricolour is not a simple state sign, it is a banner of freedom conquered by a people who recognize themselves as united, who find their identity in the principles of brotherhood, equality, justice. In the values of its own history and civilization.<ref group=Note>Adoperiamoci perché ogni famiglia, in ogni casa, ci sia un tricolore a testimoniare i sentimenti che ci uniscono fin dai giorni del glorioso Risorgimento. Il tricolore non è una semplice insegna di Stato, è un vessillo di libertà conquistata da un popolo che si riconosce unito, che trova la sua identità nei principi di fratellanza, di eguaglianza, di giustizia. Nei valori della propria storia e della propria civiltà.</ref>|source=Carlo Azeglio Ciampi}}

In 2003, a state ensign was created specifically for non-military vessels engaged in non-commercial government service whereby the Italian tricolour is defaced with the [[coat of arms of Italy|national coat of arms]].<ref>''Ratifica ed esecuzione del Memorandum di Intesa tra il Ministero della difesa della Repubblica italiana e il Comando Supremo delle Forze Alleate in Atlantico riguardo alla bandiera dell’unità per ricerche costiere della NATO, con annesso 1, firmato a Roma il 15 maggio 2001 ed a Norfolk il 20 giugno 2001'' [http://legxiv.camera.it/parlam/leggi/03321l.htm Legge n. 321 del 24 ottobre 2003] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090821114506/http://legxiv.camera.it/parlam/leggi/03321l.htm |date=21 August 2009 }} (GU 271 del 21 novembre 2003)</ref> Since 1914, the [[Aeronautica Militare|Italian Air Force]] have also used a [[Cockade of Italy|roundel of concentric rings in the colours of the tricolour]] as aircraft marking, substituted, from 1923 to 1943, by encircled fasces. The {{lang|it|[[Frecce Tricolori]]}}, officially known as the 313º Gruppo Addestramento Acrobatico, is its aerobatic demonstration team.

The law n. 222 of 23 November 2012, concerning "Rules on the acquisition of knowledge and skills in the field of" Citizenship and Constitution "and on the teaching of the Mameli hymn in schools", prescribes the study in schools of the Italian flag and other [[national symbols of Italy]].<ref>Article 1 of the law n. 222 of 23 November 2012 ("Rules on the acquisition of knowledge and skills in the field of" Citizenship and Constitution "and on the teaching of the Mameli hymn in schools")</ref>

==Historical evolution of the flag==
{{main|List of Italian flags}}
<div align="center"><gallery>

File:Flag of the Cispadane Republic.svg|Flag of the [[Cispadane Republic]] (1797)
File:Flag of the Repubblica Cisalpina 1797–1798.svg|Flag of the [[Cisalpine Republic]] (1797–1798)
File:Flag of the Repubblica Cisalpina.svg|Flag of the Cisalpine Republic (1798–1802)
File:Flag of the Italian Republic (1802).svg|Flag of the [[Italian Republic (Napoleonic)|Italian Republic]] (1802–1805)
File:Flag of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy.svg|Flag of the [[Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic)|Kingdom of Italy]] (1805–1814)
File:Flag of Italy.svg|Flag of the [[Italian United Provinces]] (1831)
File:Flag of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (1848).svg|Flag of the [[Kingdom of the Two Sicilies]] (1848–1849)
File:Flag of the Republic of San Marco.svg|Flag of the [[Republic of San Marco]] (1848–1849)
File:Flag of the Kingdom of Sardinia (1848-1851).svg|Flag of the [[Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia]] (1848–1851)
File:Flag of Sicilian Kingdom 1848.svg|Flag of the [[Kingdom of Sicily]] (1848–1849)
File:State Flag of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany (1848-1849).svg|Flag of the [[Grand Duchy of Tuscany]] (1848–1849)
File:Flag of the Roman Republic (19th century).svg|Flag of the [[Roman Republic (19th century)|Roman Republic]] (1849)
File:Military flag of the Roman Republic (19th century).svg|[[War flag]] of the [[Roman Republic (19th century)|Roman Republic]] (1849)
File:Flag_of_the_Free_Cities_of_Menton_and_Roquebrune_(1848-1849).svg|Flag of the [[Free Cities of Menton and Roquebrune]] (1848–1849)
File:Flag of Italy (1861-1946) crowned.svg|Flag of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia (1851–1861)
Flag of Italy.svg|Flag of the [[United Provinces of Central Italy]] (1859–1860)
File:Flag of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (1860).svg|Flag of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (1860–1861)
File:Flag of Italy (1861-1946) crowned.svg|State flag of the [[Kingdom of Italy]] (1861–1946)
File:Flag_of_Italy_(1861–1946).svg|Civil flag of the [[Kingdom of Italy]]. National and merchant flag in the period (1861–1946)
File:Flag of Giustizia e Liberta.svg|Flag of the [[Matteotti Battalion|Colonna Italiana]] (1936–1945)
File:Flag of Italy.svg|Flag of the [[Italian Social Republic]] (1943–1945)
File:Bandiera di combattimento per le Forze Armate della Repubblica Sociale Italiana.svg|Flag of the [[National Republican Army]] (1 December 1943 to 7 May 1945)<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://it.wikisource.org/wiki/Verbali_del_Consiglio_dei_Ministri_della_Repubblica_Sociale_Italiana_settembre_1943_-_aprile_1945/24_novembre_1943 |title=Verbali del Consiglio dei Ministri della Repubblica Sociale Italiana settembre 1943 – aprile 1945/24 novembre 1943 |access-date=29 September 2019 |archive-date=7 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190807141746/https://it.wikisource.org/wiki/Verbali_del_Consiglio_dei_Ministri_della_Repubblica_Sociale_Italiana_settembre_1943_-_aprile_1945/24_novembre_1943 |url-status=live }}</ref>
File:War flag of the Italian Social Republic.svg|War flag of the Italian Social Republic (28 January 1944 to 7 May 1945)<ref name="Forze Armate' 1944"/>
File:Flag of Italian Committee of National Liberation.svg|Flag of the [[National Liberation Committee]] (1943–1945)
File:Bandiera delle Brigate Garibaldi partigiane (1943-1945).svg|Flag of the [[Brigate Garibaldi]] (1943–1945)
File:Flag of SFR Yugoslav Italian Minority.svg|Flag of the Italian ethnic minority ([[Istrian Italians]] and [[Dalmatian Italians]]) in [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]] (1945–1990)
File:Flag of Italy (1946–2003).svg|Flag of the [[Trust Territory of Somaliland]] (1950–1960)
File:Flag of Italy (1-2).svg|Flag of [[Italians of Croatia]] (1990–present)
File:Flag of Italy (1946–2003).svg|Flag of the [[Italy|Italian Republic]] (1946–2003) {{Citation needed|reason=If the colors in Italy's flag were not standardized prior to 2003, as stated on this very page, where does this version of the flag come from?|date=September 2025}}
File:Flag of Italy (2003–2006).svg|Flag of the [[Italy|Italian Republic]] (2003–2006)
File:Flag of Italy.svg|Flag of the [[Italy|Italian Republic]] (2006–present)
</gallery></div>

== Description ==
===Colours===
[[File:Costituzione della Repubblica Italiana.jpg|thumb|One of three original copies of [[Constitution of the Italian Republic]], now in the custody of Historical Archives of the [[president of the Italian Republic]]]]

The colours of the Italian flag are indicated in article 12<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.governo.it/Governo/Costituzione/principi.html|title=La Costituzione della Repubblica Italiana|access-date=14 January 2016|language=it|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130508210346/http://www.governo.it/Governo/Costituzione/principi.html|archive-date=8 May 2013}}</ref> of the [[Constitution of the Italian Republic]], published in the ''[[Gazzetta Ufficiale]]'' No. 298, extraordinary edition, of 27 December 1947, and came into force on 1 January 1948:
* [[green]];
* [[white]];
* [[red]].

If the flag is exposed horizontally, the green part should be placed at the hoist side, with the white one in a central position and the red one outside, while if the banner is exposed vertically the green section should be placed above.<ref name=tricolore>{{Cite web|url=http://www.radiomarconi.com/marconi/bandiere/tricolore.html|title=Il tricolore|access-date=22 March 2016|language=it|archive-date=21 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160621052442/http://www.radiomarconi.com/marconi/bandiere/tricolore.html|url-status=usurped}}</ref>

===Chromatic definition===
[[File:Flag of Italy (Pantone, 2003–2006).svg|thumb|The Italian flag, using the 2003 to 2006 colours]]
[[File:Flag of Italy (Pantone, 2006).svg|thumb|The Italian flag, using the 2006 colours]]

The need to precisely define the colours was born from an event that happened at the [[Justus Lipsius building]], seat of the [[Council of the European Union]], of the [[European Council]] and of their [[General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union|Secretariat]], when an Italian [[Member of the European Parliament|MEP]], in 2002, noticed that the colours of the Italian flag were unrecognizable with red, for example, which had a shade that turned towards orange. For this reason the government, following the report of this MEP, decided to specifically define the colours of the Italian [[national flag]].{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=35}}

The shades of green, white and red were first specified by these official documents:{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=35}}<ref name="tonalità">{{Cite web |url=http://www.radiomarconi.com/marconi/bandiere/ |title=Dopo 206 anni codificati i toni del nostro simbolo nazionale |access-date=13 June 2020 |archive-date=23 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190923074028/http://www.radiomarconi.com/marconi/bandiere/ |url-status=usurped }}</ref>
* [[circulaire]] of the [[Secretary of the Council of Ministers of Italy|Undersecretary of State for the Presidency of the Council of Ministers]] of 18 September 2002;
* circulaire by the State Secretary for the Presidency of the Council of Ministers of 17 January 2003;
**{{legend|#008763|border=1px solid black|'''green''': [[Pantone]] [https://www.pantone.com/connect/18-5642-TCX tessile 18-5642TC] (''Golf Green''), called in the text "bright green grass";}}
** {{legend|#F0EEE9|border=1px solid black|'''white''': Pantone [https://www.pantone.com/connect/11-4201-TCX tessile 11-4201TC] (''Cloud Dancer''), called in the text "milky white";}}
** {{legend|#CE2939|border=1px solid black|'''red''': Pantone [https://www.pantone.com/connect/18-1660-TCX tessile 18-1660TC] (''Tomato''), called in the text "red tomato".}}

New documents then replaced the previous ones:<ref name="tonalità"/>
* circulaire of the [[Presidency of the Council of Ministers (Italy)|Presidency of the Council of Ministers]] No. EU 3.3.1 / 14545/1 of 2 June 2004;
* [[decree]] of the President of the Council of Ministers of 14 April 2006, "General provisions relating to ceremonial and precedence among public offices"
** {{legend|#008C45|border=1px solid black|'''green''': Pantone [https://www.pantone.com/connect/17-6153-TCX tessile 17-6153 TCX] (''Fern Green'');}}
** {{legend|#F4F5F0|border=1px solid black|'''white''': Pantone [https://www.pantone.com/connect/11-0601-TCX tessile 11-0601 TCX] (''Bright White'');}}
** {{legend|#CD212A|border=1px solid black|'''red''': Pantone [https://www.pantone.com/connect/18-1662-TCX tessile 18-1662 TCX] (''Scarlet Red'').}}

The chromatic tones of the three colours, on [[polyester]] [[Cheesecloth|stamina]], are enshrined in paragraph 1 of article n. 31 "Colour definition of the colours of the flag of the Republic", of Section V "Flag of Republic, National Anthem, National Feasts and State Funeral", of Chapter II "General provisions relating to ceremonial", of the annex "Presidency of the Council of Ministers – State Ceremonial Department", to the decree of the president of the Council of Ministers of 14 April 2006 "General provisions on ceremonial and precedence between public offices", published in the ''[[Gazzetta Ufficiale]]'' No. 174 of 28 July 2006.

:{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:left"
|-
! colspan=2|Description || Number || [[RGB color model|RGB]] || [[CMYK color model|CMYK]] || [[HSL and HSV|HSV]] || [[Web colors|Hex]]
|-
|style="background:#008C45"| {{pad|1em}} || [https://www.pantone.com/color-finder/17-6153-TCX Fern Green] ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190923074044/https://www.pantone.com/color-finder/17-6153-TCX |date=23 September 2019 }}) || 17-6153 TC || 0, 140, 69 || 100%, 0%, 51%, 45% || 150°, 100%, 55% || #008C45
|-
|style="background:#F4F5F0"| || [https://www.pantone.com/color-finder/11-0601-TCX Bright White] ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190923074043/https://www.pantone.com/color-finder/11-0601-TCX |date=23 September 2019 }}) || 11-0601 TC || 244, 245, 240 || 0%, 0%, 2%, 4% || 72°, 2%, 96% || #F4F5F0
|-
|style="background:#CD212A"| || [https://www.pantone.com/color-finder/18-1662-TCX Flame Scarlet] ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190923074044/https://www.pantone.com/color-finder/18-1662-TCX |date=23 September 2019 }}) || 18-1662 TC || 205, 33, 42 || 0%, 84%, 80%, 20% || 357°, 84%, 80% || #CD212A
|-
|}

== Other official flags ==
=== Governmental standards ===
{{further|Presidential standard of Italy}}
[[File:Flag of the President of Italy.svg|thumb|left|Standard of the [[President of the Italian Republic]], modified in 2000]]
The [[president of the Italian Republic]] has an official standard. The current version is based on the square flag of the [[Italian Republic (Napoleonic)|Napoleonic Italian Republic]], on a field of blue, charged with the [[emblem of Italy]] in gold.<ref>''Stendardo del presidente della Repubblica'' [http://www.gazzettaufficiale.it/do/gazzetta/downloadPdf?dataPubblicazioneGazzetta=20001014&numeroGazzetta=241&tipoSerie=SG&tipoSupplemento=GU&numeroSupplemento=0&estensione=pdf&edizione=0 Decreto del Presidente della Repubblica del 9 ottobre 2000] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170113160306/http://www.gazzettaufficiale.it/do/gazzetta/downloadPdf?dataPubblicazioneGazzetta=20001014&numeroGazzetta=241&tipoSerie=SG&tipoSupplemento=GU&numeroSupplemento=0&estensione=pdf&edizione=0 |date=13 January 2017 }} (GU 241 del 14 ottobre 2000)</ref><ref>[http://gazzette.comune.jesi.an.it/2000/241/1.htm Decreto del Presidente della Repubblica del 9 ottobre 2000] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090619041204/http://gazzette.comune.jesi.an.it/2000/241/1.htm |date=19 June 2009 }} gazzette.comune.jesi.an.it</ref><ref>''Foggia ed uso dell'emblema dello Stato'' [http://www.infoleges.it/service1/scheda.aspx?id=99049&service=1 Decreto legislativo n. 535 del 5 maggio 1948] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090215174026/http://www.infoleges.it/service1/scheda.aspx?id=99049&service=1 |date=15 February 2009 }} (GU 122 del 28 maggio 1948 suppl. ord.)</ref> The square shape with a [[Savoy blue]] border symbolise the four [[Italian Armed Forces]], namely the [[Italian Air Force]], the [[Carabinieri]], the [[Italian Army]] and the [[Italian Navy]], of which the president is the commander.<ref name="stendardo">{{cite web |url=http://www.quirinale.it/qrnw/simboli/stendardo/stendardo.html |title=Lo Stendardo presidenziale |language=it |access-date=4 March 2017 |archive-date=27 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170327161058/http://www.quirinale.it/qrnw/simboli/stendardo/stendardo.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Blue in [[heraldry]] also metaphorically symbolizes command.<ref name="heraldry">{{cite web|url=https://www.aserramanna.it/2012/07/azzurri-origine-del-colore-della-nazionale/|title=Azzurri – origine del colore della nazionale|access-date=13 January 2025|language=it}}</ref>

The first version of the standard, adopted in 1965 and used until 1990 was very similar to the current version only without the red, white and green. The emblem was also much larger.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/flagsarmsacrossw0000smit/page/110|title=Flags and arms across the world|first=Whitney|last=Smith|date=1980|publisher=McGraw-Hill|isbn=9780070590946|location=New York|page=[https://archive.org/details/flagsarmsacrossw0000smit/page/110 110]|oclc=4957064|url-access=registration}}</ref> This version of the standard was replaced in 1990 by then President [[Francesco Cossiga]]. Cossiga's new version of the standard contained the same royal blue background but now with a squared Italian national flag in the centre and no emblem.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.quirinale.it/qrnw/simboli/stendardo/stendardo.html|title=I Simboli della Repubblica – lo Stendardo|last=web|first=Segretariato generale della Presidenza della Repubblica – Servizio sistemi informatici – reparto|website=Il Presidente|language=it|trans-title=The Symbols of the Republic – the Standard|access-date=26 December 2017|archive-date=8 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180208131315/http://www.quirinale.it/qrnw/simboli/stendardo/stendardo.html|url-status=live}}</ref> This version was short-lived as only two years later it was replaced by the 1965 standard, only with a smaller emblem.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://flagspot.net/flags/it-pres.html#pres|title=Previous Presidential Standard (1965–1990,1992–2000)|website=flagspot.net|access-date=26 December 2017|archive-date=28 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150928200709/https://flagspot.net/flags/it-pres.html#pres|url-status=live}}</ref> This version lasted until 2000 from when it was replaced by the current version.

After the Republic was proclaimed, the [[national flag]] was provisionally adopted as the head of state in place of the royal standard.<ref>Foglio d'ordini del 11 febbraio 1948</ref> On the initiative of the [[Ministero della Difesa|Ministry of Defence]], a project was prepared in 1965 to adopt a distinct flag.<ref>Foglio d'ordini n. 76 del 22 settembre 1965; Decreto del Presidente della Repubblica del 22 marzo 1990 e del 29 giugno 1992</ref> Opportunity suggested the most natural solution was the Italian tricolour defaced with the coat of arms—but under conditions of poor visibility, this could easily be mistaken for the standard of the president of Mexico, which is also that country's national flag. The standard is kept in the custody of the Commander of the Reggimento [[Corazzieri]] of the Arma dei Carabinieri, along with the war flag (assigned to Regiment in 1878).<ref>[http://www.carabinieri.it/Internet/Arma/Curiosita/I+Corazzieri/Lo+Stendardo+Presidenziale/ Lo Stendardo Presidenziale] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007150122/http://www.carabinieri.it/Internet/Arma/Curiosita/I+Corazzieri/Lo+Stendardo+Presidenziale/ |date=7 October 2008 }} I Corazzieri, Arma dei Carabinieri (retrieved 5 October 2008)</ref>

A separate insignia for the president of the Senate, in exercise of duties as acting head of state under Article 86, was created in 1986.<ref>"Le funzioni del Presidente della Repubblica, in ogni caso che egli non possa adempierle, sono esercitate dal Presidente del Senato" (the functions of the president of the Republic, in all cases in which he cannot carry them out, shall be exercised by the president of the Senate)</ref> This has a white square on the blue field, charged with the arms of the Republic in silver. Distinguishing insignia for former presidents of the Republic was created in 2001;<ref>''Insegna distintiva degli ex Presidenti della Repubblica'' [http://gazzette.comune.jesi.an.it/2001/117/3.htm Decreto del Presidente della Repubblica del 17 maggio 2001] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090918130345/http://gazzette.comune.jesi.an.it/2001/117/3.htm |date=18 September 2009 }} (GU 117 del 22 maggio 2001)</ref> a tricolour in the style of the presidential standard, it is emblazoned with the [[royal cypher|Cypher]] of Honour of the president of the Republic.<ref>Decreto del Presidente della Repubblica n. 19/N del 14 ottobre 1986</ref>

The standard of [[Prime Minister of Italy|president of the Council of Ministers of Italy]], introduced for the first time in 1927 by [[Benito Mussolini]], in its first form a littorio beam appeared in the middle of the drape. The sign was abolished in 1943, while the current one was defined in 2008 by [[Silvio Berlusconi]]. It consists of a blue drapery bordered by two gold-colored borders in the center of which stands the emblem of the Republic. The banner should be exposed to every official engagement of the president and on the vehicles that carry it, but it is almost never used. The main colours are blue and gold, which have always been considered colours linked to the command.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://presidenza.governo.it/ufficio_cerimoniale/cerimoniale/Bandiera.pdf |title=presidenza.governo.it – Bandiera.pdf |access-date=23 September 2019 |archive-date=21 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191021033251/http://presidenza.governo.it/ufficio_cerimoniale/cerimoniale/Bandiera.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

<gallery>

File:Substitute President standard of Italy.svg|Standard of a substitute [[president of the Italian Republic]]
File:Standard of Presidents Emeritus of Italy.svg|Standard of a president [[emeritus]] of the Italian Republic
File:Flag of the Prime Minister of Italy.svg|Standard of the [[Prime Minister of Italy|president of the Council of Ministers of Italy]]
File:Flag of the Italian Defence minister.svg|Standard of the [[Minister of Defence (Italy)|Minister of Defence]]
</gallery>

===Maritime flags===
The naval ensigns are defaced to distinguish themselves from the [[flag of Mexico]]:<ref name="messico">{{cite web|url=http://www.radiomarconi.com/marconi/storiabandiera/|title=La bandiera Italiana|access-date=17 February 2016|language=it|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303042627/http://www.radiomarconi.com/marconi/storiabandiera/|url-status=usurped}}</ref>
* the naval ensign bears the arms of the Navy: a [[Escutcheon (heraldry)|shield]], surmounted by a [[Mural crown|turreted]] and [[Naval crown|rostrum crown]], which brings together in four parts the arms of four ancient [[maritime republics]]: [[Republic of Venice]] (where the [[Lion of Saint Mark]] carries the sword), [[Republic of Genoa]], [[Republic of Pisa]] and [[Duchy of Amalfi|Republic of Amalfi]];
* the civil ensign bears a coat of arms identical to that of the Navy, but without a crown and in which the lion of [[Mark the Evangelist|Saint Mark]] carries the book;
* the government ensign, adopted in 2003, bears the [[Emblem of Italy|emblem of the Italian Republic]].

<gallery>

File:Naval jack of Italy (1879-ca. 1900).svg|Jack of the (former) {{Lang|it|[[Regia Marina]]|italic=no}}<ref>Regio decreto del 22 aprile 1879. After 1893, the proportions were altered from 1:1 to 5:6</ref>
File:Civil Ensign of Italy.svg|Italian civil ensign
File:State ensign of Italy.svg|Italian government ensign
File:Naval Ensign of Italy.svg|Italian naval ensign
File:Naval Jack of Italy.svg|Italian naval jack (''[[recto]]'')
</gallery>

== Protocol ==
{{Main|Flag protocol#Italy}}

=== Obligation to exhibit ===
[[File:View of Piazza Venezia in Rome from Vittoriano.jpg|thumb|The Italian flag flying at the [[Altare della Patria]], [[Piazza Venezia]], [[Rome]]]]
[[File:Flags ontop Palazzo del Quirinale (Rome).jpg|thumb|The Italian flag flying on the top of the [[Quirinal Palace]], [[Rome]], the main [[official residence]] of the [[President of Italy|President of the Italian Republic]]. From left to right, the [[presidential standard of Italy]], the flag of Italy and the [[flag of the European Union]].]]
[[File:How to bend the Italian Flag.jpg|thumb|From above, clockwise, image showing how to fold the Italian flag correctly]]

The law, implementing Article 12 of the [[Constitution of Italy|Constitution]] and following of Italy's membership of the [[European Union]], lays down the general provisions governing the use and display of the flag of the Italian Republic and the [[flag of European Union]] (in its territory).<ref>''Disposizioni generali sull'uso della bandiera della Repubblica italiana e di quella dell'Unione europea'' [http://www.parlamento.it/leggi/elelenum.htm Legge n. 22 del 5 febbraio 1998] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201083111/http://www.parlamento.it/leggi/elelenum.htm |date=1 December 2008 }} (GU 37 del 14 febbraio 1998) e ''Regolamento recante disciplina dell'uso delle bandiere della Repubblica italiana e dell'Unione europea da parte delle amministrazioni dello Stato e degli enti pubblicie'' [http://www.parlamento.it/parlam/leggi/96671l.htm Decreto del Presidente della Repubblica n. 121 del 7 aprile 2000] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041228080620/http://www.parlamento.it/parlam/leggi/96671l.htm |date=28 December 2004 }} (GU 112 del 16 maggio 2000)</ref> In particular, in public buildings the flag of the Italian Republic, the flag of the European Union and the portrait of the [[president of the Italian Republic]] must be displayed in the offices of the most important Italian institutional offices.<ref>Decreto del presidente della Repubblica 7 aprile 2000, n. 121, articolo 6, in materia di "Regolamento recante disciplina dell'uso delle bandiere della Repubblica italiana e dell'Unione europea da parte delle amministrazioni dello Stato e degli enti pubblici"</ref><ref>Legge 5 febbraio 1998, n. 22, in materia di "Disposizioni generali sull'uso della bandiera della Repubblica italiana e di quella dell'Unione europea"</ref>

The flag of Italy must also be displayed outside all [[Education in Italy|schools of all levels]], outside university complexes, outside the buildings that host the voting operations, outside the prefectures, police headquarters, [[Tribunal|palaces of justice]] and outside the central post offices.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=279}} The flag of Italy must also be displayed on all public offices on the [[Tricolour Day]] (7 January), the Anniversary of the [[Lateran Treaty]] (11 February), the [[Liberation Day (Italy)|Anniversary of the Liberation]] (25 April), the [[Labour Day]] (1 May), the [[Europe Day]] (9 May), the [[Festa della Repubblica|Feast of the Italian Republic]] (2 June), the commemoration of the [[Four days of Naples]] (28 September), the feast of the patron saint of Italy ([[Francis of Assisi]], 4 October), [[United Nations Day]] (24 October; here the tricolour must fly together with the [[flag of the United Nations]]) and [[National Unity and Armed Forces Day]] (4 November).{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=279}}

When displayed alongside other flags, the flag of Italy takes the position of honour; it is raised first and lowered last. Other [[national flag]]s should be arranged in alphabetical order. Where two (or more than three) flags appear together, the national flag should be placed to the right (left of the observer); in a display of three flags in line, the national flag occupies the central position. The European flag is also flown from government buildings on a daily basis. In the presence of a foreign visitor belonging to a member state, this takes precedence over the Italian flag. As a sign of mourning, flags flown externally shall be lowered to [[half-mast]]; two black ribbons may be attached to those otherwise displayed.<ref>[http://www.governo.it/Presidenza/cerimoniale/onorificenze_araldica/documentazione/sistema_onorifico_rep_it.pdf The Rules of Protocol regarding national holidays and the use of the Italian flag] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081219113545/http://www.governo.it/Presidenza/cerimoniale/onorificenze_araldica/documentazione/sistema_onorifico_rep_it.pdf |date=19 December 2008 }} Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Department of Protocol (retrieved 5 October 2008)</ref>

===Exposure mode===
The tricolour flags displayed must always be in excellent condition, fully extended and must never touch water or land.<ref name=tricolore />{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=280}} In no case can figures and writings be written or printed on the cloth.{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=36}} Furthermore, the Italian flag can never be used as a simple drapery or as a fabric in common use (e.g. to cover tables or as curtains).<ref name=tricolore />

In the event of [[State funeral|public mourning]] the banner can be raised at half-mast and two strips of black [[velvet]] can be affixed to the cloth; the latter are instead mandatory<ref>art. 5, comma 2, D.P.R. 7 April 2000, n. 121</ref> when the tricolour participates in funeral ceremonies.{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=36}} In public ceremonies, the tricolour must always parade first.<ref>art. 5, comma 1, D.P.R. 7 aprile 2000, n. 121</ref>{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=36}}

===Flag-folding===
There is a precise way to fold the tricolour correctly, by taking into account the three vertical [[Bend (heraldry)|bands]] of which the banner is composed.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.radiomarconi.com/marconi/bandiere2.html|title=Schemi di esposizione della bandiera italiana – Le "istruzioni per l'uso" sono leggi dello Stato – Come si espone – COME SI ESPONGONO LE BANDIERE. La storia del Tricolore|language=it|access-date=9 February 2017|archive-date=7 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170307204057/http://www.radiomarconi.com/Marconi/bandiere2.html|url-status=usurped}}</ref>

The flag must be folded according to the boundaries of the colour bands: first the red band and then the green band must be folded over the white one in order to leave only the latter two colours visible; only subsequently should it be folded further in order to completely cover the red and white with green—the only colour that must be visible at the time of the closure of the cloth.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.corriere.it/Primo_Piano/unita-italia-150/2011/01/10/pop_bandiera.shtml|title=Corriere della Sera – Come si piega la bandiera|language=it|access-date=9 February 2017|archive-date=5 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170705213419/http://www.corriere.it/Primo_Piano/unita-italia-150/2011/01/10/pop_bandiera.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.associazionelagunari.it/notizia_2011_03_17_piegare_il_tricolore.htm|title=Come si piega la bandiera tricolore?|language=it|access-date=9 February 2017|archive-date=11 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211081221/http://www.associazionelagunari.it/notizia_2011_03_17_piegare_il_tricolore.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Legal protection===
Article 292 of the Italian Penal Code ("Insult or damage to the flag or other emblem of the State") protects the Italian flag by providing for the [[Flag desecration|crime of insulting it]], or other banners bearing the national colours, thus providing:{{sfn|Villa|2010|pp=37–38}}

{{blockquote|text=Anyone who vilifies the national flag or another emblem of the State with insulting expressions is punished with a fine ranging from €1,000 to €5,000. The penalty is increased from €5,000 to €10,000 if the same act is committed in occasion of a public occasion or an official ceremony.

Anyone who publicly and intentionally destroys, disperses, deteriorates, renders useless or smears the national flag or another emblem of the state is punished with imprisonment for up to two years.

For the purposes of criminal law, the national flag means the official flag of the state and any other flag bearing the national colours.<ref group=Note>Chiunque vilipende con espressioni ingiuriose la bandiera nazionale o un altro emblema dello Stato è punito con la multa da euro 1 000 a euro 5 000. La pena è aumentata da euro 5 000 a euro 10 000 nel caso in cui il medesimo fatto sia commesso in occasione di una pubblica ricorrenza o di una cerimonia ufficiale.

Chiunque pubblicamente e intenzionalmente distrugge, disperde, deteriora, rende inservibile o imbratta la bandiera nazionale o un altro emblema dello Stato è punito con la reclusione fino a due anni.

Agli effetti della legge penale per bandiera nazionale si intende la bandiera ufficiale dello Stato e ogni altra bandiera portante i colori nazionali.</ref>|source=Art. 292 of the Italian penal code}}

== Flag-raising ==
[[File:Waldfriedhof 3.JPG|thumb|Flag waving at an Italian [[war grave]] in [[Munich]], Germany]]

The flag-raising of the tricolour takes place at the first light of dawn, with the flag which is made to slide quickly and resolutely up to the end of the flagpole.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=278}} In the military sphere, it is announced by trumpet blasts and is performed on the notes of the national anthem.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=278}}

The flagship, which takes place in the evening, is instead slower and more solemn so as not to make it seem a rapid lowering.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=278}} The tricolour can be exposed also during the night only if the place where it is flying is conveniently illuminated.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=280}}

In the presence of other flags, as well as receiving the most important honour position, it must be hoisted first and lowered last.{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=35}}

==Meaning of colours==
{{further|National colours of Italy}}
[[File:Frecce Tricolori 2022.jpg|thumb|left|The {{lang|it|[[Frecce Tricolori]]}}, with [[National colours of Italy|green, white, and red]] smoke trails, above the [[Altare della Patria]] in [[Rome]]]]

As the similarity suggests, the Italian tricolour derives from the [[flag of France]], which was born during the French Revolution from the union of white – the colour of the monarchy – with red and blue – the [[Coat of arms of Paris|colours of Paris]],{{sfn|Busico|2005|p=9}} and which became the symbol of social and political renewal perpetrated by the original [[Jacobin (politics)|Jacobinism]].<ref name=Cherasco /><ref name="quirinale-pdf"/>{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=156}}

Green, the first Italian tricolour cockades, symbolised [[Natural law|natural rights]], namely [[social equality]] and [[freedom]].<ref name="valori"/> After various events it came to 7 January 1797, the date of the adoption of the tricolour flag by the [[Cispadane Republic]], the first Italian sovereign state to make use of it.<ref name="quirinale-pdf" /> During the Napoleonic period, the three colours acquired a more idealistic meaning for the population: the green represents [[hope]], the white represents [[faith]] and the red represents [[love]].{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=158}}{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=13}}

Other less probable conjectures that explain the adoption of the green hypothesise a tribute that Napoleon wanted to give to [[Corsica]], where he was born, or to a possible reference to the verdant Italian landscape.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=158}} For the adoption of greenery there is also the so-called "Masonic hypothesis": even for [[Freemasonry]], green was the colour of nature, a symbol of [[human rights]], which are naturally inherent in the human being,{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=11}} as much as of the florid Italian landscape. This interpretation is opposed by those who maintain that Freemasonry, as a secret society, did not have such an influence at the time that inspired Italian national colours.{{sfn|Fiorini|1897|pp=239–267 and 676–710}}

Another hypothesis that attempts to explain the meaning of the three Italian national colours would, without historical bases, be that the green is linked to the colour of the meadows and the [[Mediterranean maquis]], the white to that of the snows of the [[Alps]] and the red to the blood spilt in the [[Italian unification|Wars of Italian Independence and Unification]].<ref name="significato-colori">{{cite web|url=http://www.radiomarconi.com/marconi/storiabandiera/significato.html|title=Il significato dei tre colori della nostra Bandiera Nazionale|access-date=20 August 2018|language=it|archive-date=1 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180801124133/http://www.radiomarconi.com/marconi/storiabandiera/significato.html|url-status=usurped}}</ref><ref name="lettera43">{{cite web|url=https://www.lettera43.it/it/comefare/curiosita/2016/03/17/perche-la-bandiera-italiana-e-verde-bianca-rossa/3960/|title=Perché la bandiera italiana è verde bianca rossa|access-date=20 August 2018|language=it|archive-date=20 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180820234944/https://www.lettera43.it/it/comefare/curiosita/2016/03/17/perche-la-bandiera-italiana-e-verde-bianca-rossa/3960/|url-status=live}}</ref>

A more religious and philosophical interpretation is that green represents [[hope]], white represents [[faith]], and red represents [[Charity (virtue)|charity]] (love), in reference to the [[three theological virtues]].<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20170615211400/http://www.radiomarconi.com/marconi/carducci/carducci.html Dal discorso di Giosuè Carducci, tenuto il 7 gennaio 1897 a Reggio Emilia per celebrare il 1° centenario della nascita del Tricolore]}} (from the speech by Giosuè Carducci, held on 7 January 1897 in Reggio Emilia to celebrate the 1st centenary of the birth of the Tricolour), Comitato Guglielmo Marconi International (retrieved 5 October 2008)</ref>

== Tricolour Day ==
{{main|Tricolour Day}}
[[File:Festa del Tricolore 2017 (1).jpg|thumb|The [[president of Italy]], [[Sergio Mattarella]], during his entry into the [[Sala del Tricolore]] on the occasion of the [[Tricolour Day]] on 7 January 2017]]

To commemorate the birth of the Italian flag, the [[Tricolour Day]] was established on 31 December 1996, which is known in Italian as the ''Festa del Tricolore''.<ref name="miolegale"/> It is celebrated every year on 7 January, with the official celebrations being organised in [[Reggio nell'Emilia]], the city where the first official adoption of the tricolour was declared as a [[national flag]] by an Italian sovereign state, the [[Cispadane Republic]], which took place on 7 January 1797.<ref name="quirinale-pdf" />

In Reggio nell'Emilia, the Festa del Tricolore is celebrated in Piazza Prampolini, in front of the town hall, in the presence of one of the [[Italian order of precedence|highest offices of the Italian Republic]] (the [[President of Italy|president of the Italian Republic]] or the [[Italian Parliament|president of one of the chambers]]), who attends the flag-raising on the notes of {{Lang|it|[[Il Canto degli Italiani]]}} and which renders military honours a reproduction of the flag of the Cispadane Republic.<ref name="municipio">{{cite web|url=http://www.municipio.re.it/retecivica/urp/retecivi.nsf/DocumentID/BFEDB3E37338A7E1C1257F23004D3DF5?Opendocumentt|title=7 gennaio, ecco la festa del Tricolore|language=it|access-date=11 February 2017}}{{Dead link|date=December 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

In Rome, at the [[Quirinal Palace]], the ceremonial foresees instead the change of the [[Guard of honour]] in solemn form with the deployment and the parade of the [[Corazzieri|Corazzieri Regiment]] in gala uniform and the Fanfare of the [[Carabinieri Cavalry Regiment]].<ref name="aostasera">{{cite web|url=http://www.aostasera.it/articoli/2015/06/1/36238/al-via-al-quirinale-le-celebrazioni-per-il-2-giugno-con-il-cambio-della-guardia-donore|title=Al via al Quirinale le celebrazioni per il 2 giugno con il Cambio della Guardia d'onore|date=31 May 2015|access-date=21 January 2016|language=it|archive-date=28 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160128114834/http://www.aostasera.it/articoli/2015/06/1/36238/al-via-al-quirinale-le-celebrazioni-per-il-2-giugno-con-il-cambio-della-guardia-donore|url-status=live}}</ref> This solemn rite is carried out only on three other occasions, during the [[anniversary of the unification of Italy]] (17 March), the [[Festa della Repubblica]] (2 June) and the [[National Unity and Armed Forces Day]] (4 November).<ref name="aostasera"/>

== The flag in museums ==
{{further|Museum of the Risorgimento, Bologna|Museum of the Risorgimento (Milan)|Museum of the Risorgimento (Rome)|Museum of the Risorgimento (Turin)|Tricolour Flag Museum}}
[[File:Museo Centrale del Risorgimento din Roma.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Museum of the Risorgimento (Rome)|Central Museum of the Risorgimento at Vittoriano]], located in [[Rome]]]]

There are many museums that host at least one historic Italian flag. Located throughout the [[Italian peninsula]], they are mainly located in [[northern Italy]].{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|pp=294–295}}

The most important exhibition space that hosts Italian tricolour flags is found in the architectural complex of the [[Altare della Patria]] in Rome.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|pp=153–155}} Inside the "[[Museum of the Risorgimento (Rome)|Central Museum of the Risorgimento at the Vittoriano]]", there are about 700 historical flags belonging to the [[Italian Army]], [[Italian Navy]] and [[Italian Air Force]] departments, as well as the tricolour flag with which it was wrapped in 1921 coffin of the [[Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (Italy)|Unknown Soldier]] on his journey to the Altar of the Patria.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=285}} The oldest tricolour preserved in the Central Museum of the [[Risorgimento]] dates back to 1860:{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=285}} it is one of the original tricolours that flew on the ''Lombardo'' [[steamship]] which, together with ''Piedmont'' steamship, participated in the [[expedition of the Thousand]].<ref name="romartguide.it"/> The Vittoriano also houses the Flag Memorial (''Sacrario delle Bandiere''), the museum that collects and preserves disused Italian [[war flag]]s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.marina.difesa.it/storiacultura/ufficiostorico/musei/sacrario/Pagine/IlSacrariodellebandierealVittoriano.aspx|title=Il Sacrario delle Bandiere al Vittoriano|access-date=19 February 2017|language=it|archive-date=9 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170909005007/http://www.marina.difesa.it/storiacultura/ufficiostorico/musei/sacrario/Pagine/IlSacrariodellebandierealVittoriano.aspx|url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:Museo del tricolore 05.JPG|thumb|Interior of the [[Tricolour Flag Museum]] in [[Reggio Emilia]], the city that saw the birth of the Italian flag in 1797]]

Other exhibition spaces that also host historical tricolour flags in Rome include, the Historical Museum of the [[Carabinieri]], the Historical Museum of the [[Bersaglieri]], the Historical Museum of the [[Infantry]], the Historical Museum of the [[Mechanized Brigade "Granatieri di Sardegna"|Sardinian Grenadiers]], the Historical Museum of the [[Military engineering]], the Historical Museum of the [[Guardia di Finanza]] and the Historical Museum of Military Motorization.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|pp=286–288}}

The [[Tricolour Flag Museum]] in [[Reggio nell'Emilia]], the city that saw the birth of the Italian flag in 1797, was founded in 2004. It is located within the town hall of the Emilian city, adjacent to the ''[[Sala del Tricolore (Reggio Emilia)|Sala del Tricolore]]'' where documents and memorabilia attributable to the period between the arrival of [[Napoleon]] Bonaparte in Reggio (1796) and 1897, the year of the first centenary of the Italian flag are kept.{{sfn|Busico|2005|p=207}}

Other exhibition spaces that also host historical tricolour flags in [[Emilia-Romagna]]{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=294}} are the Museum of the Risorgimento and of the [[Italian resistance movement|Resistance]] in [[Ferrara]], the Civic Museum of the Risorgimento in [[Modena]], the Museum of the Resistance in [[Montefiorino]], the [[Museum of the Risorgimento, Bologna|Civic Museum of the Risorgimento in Bologna]],{{sfn|Busico|2005|pp=165–167}} the Museum of the Risorgimento in [[Imola]]{{sfn|Busico|2005|p=185}} and the Museum of the Risorgimento in [[Piacenza]].{{sfn|Busico|2005|p=201}} 
[[File:Torino-PalazzoCarignanoFronte.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Museum of the Risorgimento (Turin)|National Museum of the Italian Risorgimento in Turin]]]]

The [[Museum of the Risorgimento (Turin)|National Museum of the Italian Risorgimento in Turin]], the only one of [[Risorgimento]] that officially has the title of "national", house a rich collection of tricolours, including some dating back to the [[revolutions of 1848]].{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|pp=288–289}} Among the relics of the Royal Armory of Turin there is a flag of 1855, a relic in the [[Crimean War]], in which the [[Russian Empire]] lost to an alliance of the [[Ottoman Empire]], [[Second French Empire|France]], [[British Empire|Britain]] and [[Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia]].{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=289}} In [[Piedmont]], there are also other museums that host Italian flags in their collections: the National Historical Museum of [[Artillery]] in Turin, the Historical Museum of the [[Cavalry]] in [[Pinerolo]] and the [[Pietro Badoglio|Badogliano]] Historical Museum in [[Grazzano Badoglio]].{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=289}}

In [[Liguria]], there is the Museum of the Risorgimento and [[Giuseppe Mazzini|Mazzinian]] Institute in [[Genoa]] which preserves, among other things, an original flag of the [[Young Italy]], while in [[La Spezia]] there is the Naval Technical Museum of the Navy, founded in the 15th century by [[Amadeus VIII, Duke of Savoy]].{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=290}}
[[File:DSC02741 Milano - Palazzo Moriggia -1775- (Museo del Risorgimento) - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto - 20 jan 2007.jpg|thumb|The [[Museum of the Risorgimento (Milan)|Museum of the Risorgimento in Milan]]]]

The [[Museum of the Risorgimento (Milan)|Museum of the Risorgimento in Milan]] houses several tricolours from the [[Napoleonic era]], including a flag of the [[Lombard Legion]] dating back to 1797 and delivered to the cohort of hunters on horseback only after the aforementioned ceremony in [[Piazza del Duomo, Milan]], on 6 November 1796.{{sfn|Busico|2005|p=11}}{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=291}} Inside the Milanese museum there is also the tricolour flag dating back to the [[Five Days of Milan]] that flew from the [[Milan Cathedral]] on 20 March 1848.{{sfn|Busico|2005|p=191}}

Near [[Mantua]], in [[Solferino]], is the Museum of the Risorgimento of Solferino and San Martino, which celebrates the 1859 [[Battle of Solferino|military battle of the same name]] and which houses many relics of the event, including several tricolour flags.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|pp=291–292}}

Other exhibition spaces that also host historical tricolour flags in [[Lombardy]] include{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=292}} the International Museum of the [[Red Cross]] in [[Castiglione delle Stiviere]], the Museum of the Risorgimento in [[Bergamo]], the Museum of the Risorgimento in [[Brescia]], the Museum of the Risorgimento in [[Como]],{{sfn|Busico|2005|pp=169–172}} the [[Vittoriale degli Italiani]] in [[Gardone Riviera]],{{sfn|Busico|2005|pp=179–181}} the Museum of the Risorgimento in [[Mantua]],{{sfn|Busico|2005|p=187}} the Museum of the Risorgimento in [[Pavia]]{{sfn|Busico|2005|p=191}} and the Museum of the Risorgimento in [[Voghera]].{{sfn|Busico|2005|p=229}}
[[File:Casacarducci.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Museum of the Risorgimento, Bologna|Civic Museum of the Risorgimento in Bologna]]]]

In [[Venice]], the Museum of the Risorgimento and the Venetian 19th century preserves the tricolour flag of 1848 which greeted the expulsion of the [[Austrian Empire|Austrians]] from the city; Venice also hosts the Naval History Museum, which has an importance comparable to the homonymous exhibition space in La Spezia.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=292}} The description of the [[Triveneto]] museums{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=293}} is completed by the Italian War History Museum in [[Rovereto]], dedicated to World War I, which houses many relics, including several tricolour flags; the Historical Museum of [[Trento]], which preserves items dedicated to the [[Alpini]] troops, the Museum of the Risorgimento and of the contemporary age in [[Padua]],{{sfn|Busico|2005|pp=193–194}} the Museum of the Risorgimento and of the Resistance in [[Vicenza]].{{sfn|Busico|2005|p=227}} In [[Trieste]], there is the Museum of the Risorgimento and the shrine of [[Guglielmo Oberdan|Oberdan]].{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=294}}

In [[Sardinia]], in addition to the Museum of the Risorgimento of the State Archives in [[Cagliari]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.archivi-sias.it/Scheda_Complesso.asp?FiltraComplesso=260443283|title=SIAS – Sistema Informativo degli Archivi di Stato|access-date=4 March 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170305041709/http://www.archivi-sias.it/Scheda_Complesso.asp?FiltraComplesso=260443283|language=it|archive-date=5 March 2017}}</ref> there is the Museum of the Risorgimento Duca d'Aosta in [[Sanluri]], set up at the castle of [[Eleonora D'Arborea]], which preserves, among the numerous patriotic and the historical flags, the tricolour that on 3 November 1918 flew first in the Trieste just reconquered by Italy after the victory in World War I.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sardegnacultura.it/j/v/253?s=24550&v=2&c=2487&c1=2127&t=1|title=Sardegna Cultura – Luoghi della cultura – Musei|language=it|access-date=4 March 2017|archive-date=5 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170305040643/http://www.sardegnacultura.it/j/v/253?s=24550&v=2&c=2487&c1=2127&t=1|url-status=live}}</ref>

Other exhibition spaces that also host historical tricolour flags in other [[regions of Italy]] include the Domus Mazziniana in [[Pisa]],{{sfn|Busico|2005|pp=203–205}} the [[Marche]] museum of the Risorgimento and the Resistance in [[Macerata]],{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=294}} the Museum of the Risorgimento in [[Palermo]],{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|pp=294–295}} which also preserves one of the original tricolour flags belonging to the ''Lombardo'' [[steamship]] which participated in the [[Expedition of the Thousand]],{{sfn|Busico|2005|p=197}} and the museum of the State Archives in [[Naples]] which houses, among other things, twelve of the twenty-one tricolour flags requisitioned by the [[House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies|Bourbon]] general [[Carlo Filangieri]] from the Sicilian patriots of [[Caltagirone]], [[Catania]], [[Leonforte]] and [[Syracuse, Sicily|Syracuse]] during the [[Sicilian revolution of 1848]].{{sfn|Bellocchi|2008|p=25}}

== Similar national flags ==
[[File:Mexico Italy flag differences.gif|thumb|left|Comparison of similarities of the Italian and [[Flag of Mexico|Mexican flags]]]]

The Italian national flag belongs to the family of flags derived from the French tricolour,<ref name="lauro-rossi">{{cite web|url=http://elearning.unite.it/pluginfile.php/3091/mod_resource/content/1/Origini%20della%20Bandiera%20tricolore%20italiana.pdf|title=Origini della bandiera tricolore italiana|access-date=2 March 2017|language=it|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170224214216/http://elearning.unite.it/pluginfile.php/3091/mod_resource/content/1/Origini%20della%20Bandiera%20tricolore%20italiana.pdf|archive-date=24 February 2017}}</ref> with all the meanings attached, as mentioned, to the ideals of the [[French Revolution]].{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=156}}

Due to the common arrangement of the colours, at first sight, it seems that the only difference between the Italian and the [[Flag of Mexico|Mexican flag]] is only the [[coat of arms of Mexico]] present in the latter; in reality the Italian tricolour uses lighter shades of green and red, and has different proportions than the Mexican flag—those of the Italian flag are equal to 2:3, while the proportions of the Mexican flag are 4:7.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bandiere-nazionali.it/bandiera-messico.html|title=Bandiera Messico|access-date=17 February 2016|language=it|archive-date=18 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160118014921/http://bandiere-nazionali.it/bandiera-messico.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> The similarity between the two flags posed a serious problem in maritime transport, given that originally the Mexican mercantile flag was devoid of arms and therefore was consequently identical to the Italian Republican tricolour of 1946; to obviate the inconvenience, at the request of the [[International Maritime Organization]], both Italy and Mexico adopted naval flags with different crests.<ref name="messico"/>

Also due to the Italian layout, the Italian flag is also quite similar to the [[flag of Ireland]], with the exception of orange instead of red (although the shades used for these two colours are very similar){{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=151}} and proportions (2:3 against 1:2).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bandiere-nazionali.it/bandiera-irlanda.html|title=Bandiera Irlanda|access-date=17 February 2016|language=it|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160407194535/http://www.bandiere-nazionali.it/bandiera-irlanda.html|archive-date=7 April 2016}}</ref>
[[File:Flag of Ireland.svg|thumb|[[Flag of Ireland]]]]

The [[Flag of Hungary|Hungarian flag]] has the same colours as the Italian one, but on the Magyar banner the red, white and green tricolour is arranged horizontally.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=151}} Another banner chromatically similar to the Italian one is the [[flag of Bulgaria]]; similarly to the Hungarian flag, the Bulgarian banner has the white, green and red tricolour (starting from the top) in horizontal stripes, and therefore also in this case there is no confusion with the Italian tricolour.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=151}}

Similar to the Hungarian banner is the [[flag of Iran]], but green and red are reversed.{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=39}} In the [[flag of Madagascar]] green and red are in horizontal bands while white is in vertical band.{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=39}} The [[flag of Oman]] is similar to the Bulgarian banner, but the green and red colors are reversed (the [[flag of Oman]] may also be similar to the [[flag of Hungary]], but the red and white colors are reversed),{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=39}} while the [[flag of Tajikistan]] is similar to the Hungarian banner.{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=39}}

Finally, they present other combinations of the three colours, the flags of [[Madagascar]], [[Suriname]], and [[Burundi]].{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=39}} The [[flag of Suriname]] has a very specific composition of horizontal tricolor bands: the central red band (loaded with a gold star) and flanked by white and green bands.{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=39}} The [[flag of Burundi]] instead has a white [[Saltire|Saint Andrew's Cross]] that divides the cloth into four triangular sections, the upper and lower ones red and the lateral ones green.{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=39}}

== The flag in the arts ==
=== In the visual arts ===
[[File:Anonimo - Garibaldi ferito - litografia acquerellata su carta legno - ca. 1870.jpg|thumb|''Garibaldi wounded in Aspromonte'' by an unknown author (around 1870)]]
[[File:La prima bandiera italiana portata in Firenze - Francesco Saverio Altamura.jpg|thumb|''The first Italian flag brought to Florence'' by Francesco Saverio Altamura (1859)]]
[[File:Il 26 aprile 1859 - Odoardo Borrani.jpg|thumb|''26 April 1859'' by Odoardo Borrani (1861)]]
[[File:Episodio delle cinque giornate (Baldassare Verazzi).jpg|thumb|''Fighting at Litta Palace'' (mid 19th century) by Baldassare Verazzi]]
[[File:Gioacchino toma piccoli patrioti 1862.jpg|thumb|''Little patriots'' (1862) by Gioacchino Toma]]
[[File:Episodio delle Cinque Giornate in Piazza Sant'Alessandro - Carlo Stragliati.jpg|thumb|''Episode of the Five Days in Piazza Sant'Alessandro'' (late 19th century) by Carlo Stragliati]]
[[File:Garibaldi sbarca a Marsala - Gerolamo Induno.jpg|thumb|''Garibaldi lands in Marsala'' (late 19th century) by Gerolamo Induno]]

Famous paintings dating back to the [[unification of Italy]] whose subject revolves around the tricolour are ''Pasquale Sottocorno assaulting the Military Engineering Palace during the Five Days of Milan'' (1860) by [[Pietro Bouvier]],{{sfn|Bellocchi|2008|p=38}} ''Charles Albert of Piedmont-Sardinia on the balcony of the Greppi Palace'' (1848) by [[Carlo Bossoli]],{{sfn|Bellocchi|2008|p=55}} ''Little patriots'' (1862) by [[Gioacchino Toma]],{{sfn|Bellocchi|2008|p=113}} ''Garibaldi lands in Marsala'' (late 19th century),{{sfn|Bellocchi|2008|p=118}} ''The departure of the volunteers'' (1877–1878),{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=9}} ''The departure of the Garibaldine'' (1860),{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=19}} ''The departure of the conscripts in 1866'' (1878)<ref name="legiopraetoria">{{cite web|url=http://www.legiopraetoria.it/Archivio/2007/01_Gennaio_07/233_tricolore.htm|title=210 anni di Tricolore|access-date=4 May 2017|language=it|archive-date=5 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170505080026/http://www.legiopraetoria.it/Archivio/2007/01_Gennaio_07/233_tricolore.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> ''The return of the wounded soldier'' (1854),{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=24}} all by [[Gerolamo Induno]], ''The first Italian flag brought to Florence'' (1859) by [[Francesco Saverio Altamura]],{{sfn|Bellocchi|2008|p=128}} ''The wounded soldier'' (1865–1870) by [[Angelo Trezzini]],{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=17}} ''Episode of the Five Days in Piazza Sant'Alessandro'' by [[Carlo Stragliati]] (late 19th century),<ref name="legiopraetoria"/> ''Fighting at Litta Palace'' (half 19th century) by [[Baldassare Verazzi]],{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=20}} ''The brothers are in the field! Remembrance of Venice'' (1869) by [[Mosè Bianchi]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.brera.beniculturali.it/Page/t01/view_html?idp=516|title=Cartoline dal Risorgimento|access-date=14 February 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110911051550/http://www.brera.beniculturali.it/Page/t01/view_html?idp=516|archive-date=11 September 2011|language=it}}</ref> ''The breach of Porta Pia'' (1880) by [[Carlo Ademollo]],{{sfn|Villa|2010|p=27}} ''On 26 April 1859'' (1861) by [[Odoardo Borrani]],<ref name="artesuarte">{{cite web|url=http://www.artesuarte.it/foto_.php?id=484A4338.jpg&idfoto=484|title=Il 26 aprile 1859|access-date=4 May 2017|language=it|archive-date=4 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170504215502/http://www.artesuarte.it/foto_.php?id=484A4338.jpg&idfoto=484|url-status=live}}</ref> and ''Garibaldi's Burial'' (1862–64) by [[Filippo Liardo]].

The tricolour often recurs in the paintings of Italian painters adhering to [[futurism]]. In particular, [[Giacomo Balla]] has often used the symbol of the Italian flag in some patriotic works such as ''Flag Waving'', ''Interventionist Demonstration'' and ''Demonstration [[Capture of Rome|20th September]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.arte.it/calendario-arte/gorizia/mostra-giacomo-balla-interventismo-1915-2015-12925|title=Giacomo Balla. Interventismo 1915–2015|access-date=18 February 2016|language=it|archive-date=24 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160224235151/http://www.arte.it/calendario-arte/gorizia/mostra-giacomo-balla-interventismo-1915-2015-12925|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== In music ===
The first [[song]]s on the tricolour started to be composed shortly after its official adoption on 7 January 1797.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=160}} The most famous popular musical composition written in this period and dedicated to the Italian flag is ''To the tricolour'', which reads:{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=161}}

{{blockquote|text=Tricolour the Insignia and the Standard<br />new fire awaken us in the heart!<br />The ringing of the trumpets is a harbinger<br />of victories, triumphs and valor<ref group=Note>Tricolore le Insegne e il Vessillo<br />novo foco ci destano in cor!<br />Delle trombe foriero è lo squillo<br />di vittorie, trionfi e valor</ref>|source=''To the tricolour'', unknown author}}

Most of the songs dedicated to the Italian flag were written during the [[unification of Italy]].{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=181}} The most famous is ''The flag of the three colours'', sung in all Italian [[primary school]]s for decades:{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=181}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.amici-lincei.it:80/italia-unita/la-bandiera-dei-tre-colori.php|title=La bandiera dei tre colori (con file audio)|access-date=11 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160122054411/http://www.amici-lincei.it/italia-unita/la-bandiera-dei-tre-colori.php|archive-date=22 January 2016|url-status=dead|language=it}}</ref>

{{blockquote|text=The flag of the three colours<br />has always been the most beautiful,<br />we always want that,<br />we want freedom.<br />And the yellow and black flag<br />here he has finished reigning!<br />The yellow and black flag<br />here he has finished reigning!<br />All united in one pact<br />tight around the flag,<br />we will shout morning and evening:<br />long live the three colours!<ref group=Note>La bandiera dei tre colori<br />è sempre stata la più bella,<br />noi vogliamo sempre quella,<br />noi vogliam la libertà.<br />E la bandiera gialla e nera<br />qui ha finito di regnar!<br />La bandiera gialla e nera<br />qui ha finito di regnar!<br />Tutti uniti in un sol patto<br />stretti intorno alla bandiera,<br />griderem mattina e sera:<br />viva, viva i tre color!</ref>|source=''The flag of the three colours'', unknown author}}

During the [[battle of Aspromonte]] (29 August 1862), the notes of ''The tricolour flag'', by an unknown author, rang out;{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=210}} the flag is also mentioned in ''Garibaldi's hymn'', a 1859 song by [[Luigi Mercantini]], which accompanied the [[Expedition of the Thousand]].{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=203}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ingeb.org/songs/innodiga.html|title=Inno di Garibaldi|access-date=12 February 2016|language=it|archive-date=5 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305015920/http://ingeb.org/songs/innodiga.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Other pieces from the unification of Italy celebrating the tricolour are [[Giuseppe Bertoldi]]'s ''Liberation of Milan'',{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=181}} ''O Ardent young people'' by an anonymous author{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=181}} and Luigi Mercantini's ''War Hymn of 1848–49''.{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=181}}

The Italian flag is then mentioned in the musical composition ''The bell of San Giusto''{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=246}} and in the piece ''[[Faccetta Nera]]'', written by [[Renato Micheli]] and set to music by [[Mario Ruccione]] in April 1935 on the occasion of the [[Second Italo-Ethiopian War]] (1935–1936).{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=253}}

The 1961 song ''The Flag'' by [[Domenico Modugno]]{{sfn|Tarozzi|1999|p=427}} was also dedicated to the flag. In 1965, singer [[Ivan Della Mea]] recalled the tricolour as a symbol of national unity in the song ''9th May''. The song refers to the event organized on 9 May 1965 in memory of the 20eth anniversary of the [[Liberation of Italy]] (1943–1945).{{sfn|Tarozzi|1999|p=407}}

In March 2007, singer-songwriter [[Graziano Romani]] published the album ''Three colours'', inspired by the Italian flag and the occasion in which the tricolour was adopted in his hometown, [[Reggio Emilia]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ilpopolodelblues.com/pdb/old/rev/maggio07/recensioni/graziano-romani.html|title=Graziano Romani – Tre Colori|access-date=18 February 2016|language=it|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303040803/http://www.ilpopolodelblues.com/pdb/old/rev/maggio07/recensioni/graziano-romani.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== In literature ===
Many [[Romantic poetry|romantic poets]] treated the tricolour flag in their literary works, drawing juxtapositions and [[symbol]]isms:{{sfn|Maiorino|2002|p=161}}

{{blockquote|text=From the [[Alps]] to the [[Strait of Messina|Strait]] brothers we are all!<br />On the open limits, on the destroyed thrones<br />let's plant our common three colours!<br />Green hopes it for so many years,<br />red the joy of having accomplished it,<br />white the brotherly faith of love.<ref group=Note>Dall'Alpi allo Stretto<br />fratelli siam tutti!<br />Su i limiti schiusi, su i troni distrutti<br />piantiamo i comuni tre nostri color!<br />Il verde la speme tant'anni pasciuta,<br />il rosso la gioia d'averla compiuta,<br />il bianco la fede fraterna d'amor.</ref>|source=[[Giovanni Berchet]], ''To arms to arms !'', 1831}}

{{blockquote|text=White is the faith that chains us<br />red is the joy of our hearts<br />I'll put a verbena leaf in it<br />which I myself fed with fresh moods.<ref group=Note>Il bianco l'é la fede che ci incatena<br />il rosso l'allegria dei nostri cuori<br />ci metterò una foglia di verbena<br />ch'io stesso alimentai di freschi umori.</ref>|source=[[Francesco Dall'Ongaro]], ''The Brigidino (In honor of the Italian tricolour)'', 1847}}

{{blockquote|text=We too have our flag<br />no longer like one day [[Flag of the Habsburg Monarchy|so yellow, so black]];<br />on the white linen of our banner<br />waving a green laurel wreath:<br />of our tyrants in cowardly blood<br />the area of the third colour is tinted.<ref group=Note>Noi pure l'abbiamo la nostra bandiera<br />non più come un giorno sì gialla, sì nera;<br />sul candido lino del nostro stendardo<br />ondeggia una verde ghirlanda d'allor:<br />de' nostri tiranni nel sangue codardo<br />è tinta la zona del terzo color.</ref>|source=[[Arnaldo Fusinato]], ''The Song of the Insurgents'', April 1848}}

{{blockquote|text=The three colours of your flag are not three kingdoms but the whole of Italy:<br />the white Alps,<br />red the two volcanoes,<br />green is the grass of the [[Lombardy|Lombard]] planes.<ref group=Note>I tre colori della tua bandiera non son tre regni ma l'Italia intera:<br />il bianco l'Alpi,<br />il rosso i due vulcani,<br />il verde l'erba dei lombardi piani.</ref>|source=Francesco Dall'Ongaro, ''Garibaldi in Sicily'', May 1860}}

{{blockquote|text=Be blessed! Blessed in the immaculate origin, blessed in the way of trials and misfortunes for which immaculate still you proceeded, blessed in battle and victory, now and forever, forever! Do not ramp of eagles and lions, do not surmount predatory beasts, in the holy banner; but the colours of our spring and our country, from [[Mont Cenis]] to [[Mount Etna|Etna]]; the snows of the Alps, the April of the valleys, the flames of the volcanoes. And immediately those colours spoke to generous and kind souls, with the inspirations and effects of the virtues with which the homeland stands and augusts: white, the serene faith in the ideas that make the soul divine in the constancy of the wise; green, the perpetual re-flowering of hope as the fruit of good in the youth of poets; red, the passion and blood of martyrs and heroes. And immediately the people sang to her flag that she was the most beautiful of all and that they always wanted her and with her freedom!<ref group=Note>Sii benedetta! Benedetta nell'immacolata origine, benedetta nella via di prove e di sventure per cui immacolata ancora procedesti, benedetta nella battaglia e nella vittoria, ora e sempre, nei secoli! Non rampare di aquile e leoni, non sormontare di belve rapaci, nel santo vessillo; ma i colori della nostra primavera e del nostro paese, dal Cenisio all'Etna; le nevi delle alpi, l'aprile delle valli, le fiamme dei vulcani. E subito quei colori parlarono alle anime generose e gentili, con le ispirazioni e gli effetti delle virtù onde la patria sta e si augusta: il bianco, la fede serena alle idee che fanno divina l'anima nella costanza dei savi; il verde, la perpetua rifioritura della speranza a frutto di bene nella gioventù de' poeti; il rosso, la passione ed il sangue dei martiri e degli eroi. E subito il popolo cantò alla sua bandiera ch'ella era la più bella di tutte e che sempre voleva lei e con lei la libertà!</ref>|source=[[Giosuè Carducci]], speech given to celebrate the 1st Centenary of the birth of the Tricolour, Reggio Emilia, 7 January 1897}}

== See also ==
{{Portal|Italy|Heraldry}}
* [[Cockade of Italy]]
* [[Flags of Napoleonic Italy]]
* [[Flags of regions of Italy]]
* [[List of Italian flags]]
* [[National symbols of Italy]]
* [[Sala del Tricolore]]
* [[Tricolour Day]]
* [[Tricolour Flag Museum]]
* [[Flag of Mexico]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=Note}}

==References==
{{notelist}}
{{reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book|last=Bellocchi |first=Ugo |title=Bandiera madre – I tre colori della vita|year=2008|publisher=Scripta Maneant|language=it|isbn=978-88-95847-01-6}}
* {{cite book|last=Bovio |first=Oreste|title=Due secoli di tricolore|year=1996 |publisher=Ufficio storico dello Stato Maggiore dell'Esercito|language=it|id=[[National Library Service of Italy|SBN]] [https://opac.sbn.it/bid/BVE0116837 IT\ICCU\BVE\0116837]}}
* {{cite journal |last1= Bronzini |first1=Giovanni Battista|last2= Dal Mestre|first2=Luigi|year=1986|title=La restaurazione austriaca a Milano nel 1814 |journal=Lares  |volume= LII |number=3 |pages=425–464 |language=it| publisher=Casa Editrice Leo S. Olschki|ref={{sfnref|Bronzini|1986}}}}
* {{cite book|last=Busico|first=Augusta |title=Il tricolore: il simbolo la storia|year=2005|publisher=Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri, Dipartimento per l'informazione e l'editoria|language=it|id=[[National Library Service of Italy|SBN]] [https://opac.sbn.it/bid/UBO2771748 IT\ICCU\UBO\2771748]}}
* {{cite book|last=Colangeli|first=Oronzo|title=Simboli e bandiere nella storia del Risorgimento italiano|year=1965|publisher=Patron|url=https://www.150anni.it/webi/_file/documenti/risorgimento/movimentivalorilibri/valori/tricolore/tricolore%201_1.pdf|language=it|id=[[National Library Service of Italy|SBN]] [https://opac.sbn.it/bid/SBL0395583 IT\ICCU\SBL\0395583]|access-date=22 September 2019|archive-date=6 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806144702/https://www.150anni.it/webi/_file/documenti/risorgimento/movimentivalorilibri/valori/tricolore/tricolore%201_1.pdf|url-status=live}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Fiorini |first1=Vittorio |year=1897 |title=Le origini del tricolore italiano |url=https://archive.org/stream/nuovaantologia151romauoft#page/238/mode/2up |journal=Nuova Antologia di Scienze Lettere e Arti |volume=LXVII |issue=fourth series |pages=239–267 and 676–710 |id=[[National Library Service of Italy|SBN]] [https://opac.sbn.it/bid/UBO3928254 IT\ICCU\UBO\3928254] |language=it }}
* {{cite book|last1=Maiorino |first1=Tarquinio|last2=Marchetti Tricamo|first2=Giuseppe |last3=Zagami |first3=Andrea |title=Il tricolore degli italiani. Storia avventurosa della nostra bandiera|year=2002 |publisher=Arnoldo Mondadori Editore|language=it|isbn=978-88-04-50946-2|ref={{sfnref|Maiorino|2002}}}}
* {{cite book|last1=Tarozzi|first1=Fiorenza|last2=Vecchio|first2=Giorgio |title=Gli italiani e il tricolore|year=1999|publisher=Il Mulino|language=it|isbn=88-15-07163-6|ref={{sfnref|Tarozzi|1999}}}}
* {{cite book|last1=Tobia|first1=Bruno|title=L'Altare della Patria|year=2011|publisher=Il Mulino|language=it|isbn=978-88-15-23341-7}}
* {{cite book |last1=Vecchio |first1=Giorgio |year=2003 |title=Almanacco della Repubblica |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MuTF4BEaChYC&pg=PA42 |chapter=Il tricolore |pages=42–55 |publisher=Bruno Mondadori |isbn=88-424-9499-2 |language=it }}
* {{cite book|last=Villa|first=Claudio|title=I simboli della Repubblica: la bandiera tricolore, il canto degli italiani, l'emblema|year=2010|publisher=Comune di Vanzago|language=it|id=[[National Library Service of Italy|SBN]] [https://opac.sbn.it/bid/LO11355389 IT\ICCU\LO1\1355389]}}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|National flag of Italy}}
* {{FOTW|id=it|title=Italy}}
* {{in lang|it}} [http://www.quirinale.it/qrnw/statico/simboli/tricolore/tricolore.htm La Bandiera degli italiani] Presidenza della Repubblica, Palazzo del Quirinale
* {{in lang|it}} [http://www.cisv.it/ Centro Italiano Studi Vessillologici] (Italian Centre for the Study of [[Vexillology]])

{{National symbols of Italy}}
{{Risorgimento}}
{{Italy topics}}
{{Italian flags}}
{{Flag of Europe}}


{{good article}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flag of Italy}}
[[Category:Culture of Italy]]
[[Category:National flags|Italy]]
[[Category:Flags of Italy| ]]
[[Category:Italian unification]]
[[Category:National symbols of Italy]]
[[Category:Flags with green, red and white|Italy]]
[[Category:Vertically symmetrical flags|Italy]]
[[Category:Flags introduced in 1946|Italy]]