Flag of Italy
Italy’s national flag is a vertical tricolour of green, white, and red bands. Its design descends from flags adopted in the late eighteenth century.
Cispadane Republic: A short-lived republic in northern Italy established in 1796 under French influence. It adopted the green, white, and red tricolour in 1797, an early form of Italy’s flag.
Italian national identity: A sense of shared belonging shaped by Italy’s history, culture, language, and civic life. The flag makes a common national identity visible across Italy’s diverse regions.
Tricolour: A flag or emblem composed of three colored bands or fields. Italy’s flag belongs to this broad design family, with its bands arranged vertically.
Italian Armed Forces: The military forces of the Italian Republic, comprising its army, navy, air force, and Carabinieri. The national tricolour appears on military standards and marks Italian state authority.
Italian unification: The nineteenth-century political process that united most Italian states into one kingdom. Unification made the tricolour a shared national emblem rather than a regional republican flag.
Risorgimento: The nineteenth-century movement for Italian national unity and independence. The tricolour became a symbol of the movement’s hopes for a unified Italy.
Flag: A piece of fabric or other material displaying a design used as a symbol or signal. The Italian tricolour functions as a national flag, a public emblem, and a ceremonial object.
Italian national football team: The men’s national association football team representing Italy in international competition. The team’s nickname, Azzurri, reflects a royal-blue tradition alongside the national flag’s colors.
Kingdom of Italy: The Italian monarchy established in 1861 and dissolved when Italy became a republic in 1946. Its flag carried the Savoy coat of arms on the tricolour until the monarchy ended.
Italian Republic Day: Italy’s national holiday, observed on June 2 to commemorate the 1946 referendum establishing the republic. The holiday celebrates the republican state that kept the tricolour without royal insignia.