CIRCA - 1796 🇮🇹 - vertical tricolor of green (hoist-side), white (middle) & red (fly-side) equal bands

HISTORY: The Tricolore, inspired by the revolutionary French Tricolore🔍 & local Milanese guard uniforms, originated during the

Napoleonic era, symbolizing emerging Italian national consciousness.

The red & white had been used by not just Milan as far back as the 12c, but also by 12c Lucca

& Florence, as well as 11c Pisa, with green dating back even further to 9c use in Sicily, and in the

Imperial Orilflamme of Charlemagne, (King of the Lombards, among other lands) when he was

crowned Emperor in 800

Variations were adopted throughout the 19c (some with horizontal stripes, some with emblems

of monarchs, etc) by multiple Italian regions/ republics. A symbol of emerging Italian unity, it

became the flag of the unified country in 1861 (with Savoy ⛨ coat of arms) & then modern Italy,

(sans ⛨ CoA) in 1946.

[Variants, including the civil ensign, often incorporating Italian CoA ⛨'s or emblems.]

VEXILLOLOGY:* The colors, taken Milanese militias & the Legione Lombarda, (a pro-French Revolution legion)**

have no codified symbolism but common interpretations attribute;

• The  GREEN BAND to the Italian plains & hope

• The WHITE BAND to the snow-capped 🗻 Alps🔍 & faith

• The RED BAND to the blood🩸 of patriots & charity

* The STUDY of FLAGS; their history, symbolism, usage, and design. From Latin vexillum - referring to a Roman military standard / flag (from velum= cloth/ covering/sail/curtain

[PIE🔍 root weg = to weave / to cover]) + Greek suffix -logia = study]

** Members wore green coats as a nod to anti-Austrian patriotism; with the white & red echoing traditional Lombardic & Milanese heraldry