The Italian Republic is a unique country, being at the same time one of the most ancient powers and a rather young state. The fragmented duchies of Italy finally united in the 19th century. Today it is one of the major powers, the country is a member (G8). The flag and coat of arms of Italy are integral elements of state symbols. Each of them has its own history and meaning.
Italian tricolor: two versions of birth
The history of the country's flag is quite interesting. The colors of the state symbol of Italy were established at one time by Napoleon. But at first, the arrangement of the stripes was horizontal, not vertical, as it is now. The flag acquired its usual form only in 1798, and in 1805, when the country acquired the status of a kingdom, the image of the golden Napoleonic eagle adorned the green stripe. Only after World War II, in 1946, did he disappear from the state banner. The coat of arms of Italy also underwent changes and got rid of the image of a bird that was present on it.
According to one version, the colors of the flag are taken from the colors of the uniforms of the Milan police. At first it was white and green, and since 1976, after the police were renamed in Italy, red was added to the tones of the uniform.
There is one more unofficial, but enough unusual story appearance of the Italian flag. Once upon a time, during the revolutionary unrest, the protesters needed a symbol of the nation. There was none available, and it was necessary to urgently solve this problem. Then one of the participants in the rallies ran home, found three multi-colored rags and hastily sewed them together. The resulting cloth and later became the Italian flag.
Flag of Italy today
The modern attribute of state symbols has three vertical stripes. Official version The interpretation of this particular color combination is as follows: green denotes faith, white is a symbol of hope, the red stripe represents love. The current state coat of arms of Italy is made in the same colors.
In 2005, the Italian parliament passed a law that punishes damage to the national flag and desecration of it in the form of a fine ranging from 1,000 to 1,500 euros. Today, in case of desecration of the state symbol in public places, the violator will be forced to pay 10,000 euros.
The history of the coat of arms: how the Roman professor entered himself into history
The coat of arms of Italy, as it exists today, was approved by official decree two years later than the Italian flag, in 1948.
This event was preceded by a very strict competitive selection, which lasted for two years. About a thousand works in black and white were submitted to the judgment of a specially created commission. A prerequisite for considering the sketch of the coat of arms was an image that symbolized the land and municipalities that are part of Italy.
He won the competition Paolo Paschetto, who at that moment was a professor at the Institute of Fine Arts in Rome. He was paid a premium and given to create the final version of the coat of arms.
By coincidence, not everyone liked the winning sketch, which became the reason for holding an additional competitive stage. However, fortune was clearly on the side of the lucky and talented professor, because he managed to win the second time. The work done by him has undergone a slight adjustment and acquired color. In this form, the coat of arms of Italy exists to this day.
What is in the symbol, Italy, of yours?
As mentioned above, the colors of the Italian coat of arms echo those used in the national flag. It is a combination of white, green and red. Each coat of arms has hidden meaning. Each country has its own. The emblem of Italy is no exception to this rule. What does each of its elements mean and what is the hidden message?
The star has been a symbol of the country since time immemorial and was also present on the coat of arms. It is believed that it illuminates the entire state and its lands with its radiance and leads all the afflicted to its shores so that travelers do not go astray.
The gear depicted on the coat of arms represents the industriousness of the Italian people. According to another version, this wheel with teeth symbolizes the battlements and towers of Ancient Rome.
The olive branch, located to the left of the star, means the friendliness of the Italians and their desire for peace with other nations. Interestingly, the olive is a very common tree in the country, one of the longest-lived and perhaps the main source of food for many Italians. The best olive oil in the world is made from fruits, olives are present in many national dishes and are constantly present on the table of almost every inhabitant of Italy.
The branch of another tree, an oak, framing the star on the right, is a symbol of the dignity and strength of the Italian nation.
When an ordinary person reads the description of the coat of arms of Italy without any explanation, it seems to him a little strange. Nevertheless, every element has a meaning, and all of them are connected with the distant past of this country.
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An excerpt characterizing the Symbols of Italy
"But is it completely over?" Pierre said.Princess Mary looked at him in surprise. She didn't even understand how she could ask about it. Pierre entered the office. Prince Andrey, who had changed greatly, had apparently recovered, but with a new, transverse wrinkle between his eyebrows, in civilian clothes, stood opposite his father and Prince Meshchersky and argued heatedly, making energetic gestures. It was about Speransky, the news of his sudden exile and alleged betrayal of which had just reached Moscow.
“Now they judge and accuse him (Speransky) of all those who admired him a month ago,” said Prince Andrei, “and those who were not able to understand his goals. It is very easy to judge a person in disfavour, and to dump on him all the faults of another; but I will say that if anything good has been done in the current reign, then all good things have been done by him - by him alone. He stopped when he saw Pierre. His face trembled and immediately assumed an angry expression. “And posterity will give him justice,” he finished, and immediately turned to Pierre.
- Well, how are you? You’re getting fatter,” he said animatedly, but the newly appeared wrinkle was cut even deeper on his forehead. “Yes, I’m healthy,” he answered Pierre’s question and grinned. It was clear to Pierre that his smile said: "I'm healthy, but no one needs my health." Having said a few words with Pierre about the terrible road from the borders of Poland, about how he met people in Switzerland who knew Pierre, and about Mr. Desalles, whom he brought from abroad as an educator for his son, Prince Andrei again vehemently intervened in a conversation about Speransky going on between two old men.
“If there had been treason and there would have been evidence of his secret relations with Napoleon, then they would have been publicly announced,” he said with vehemence and haste. - I personally do not like and did not like Speransky, but I love justice. - Pierre now recognized in his friend the need, too familiar to him, to worry and argue about a matter alien to himself, only in order to drown out too heavy intimate thoughts.
When Prince Meshchersky left, Prince Andrei took Pierre by the arm and invited him into the room that had been reserved for him. The bed was broken in the room, suitcases and chests lay open. Prince Andrei went up to one of them and took out a box. From the box he took out a bundle of paper. He did everything silently and very quickly. He got up, cleared his throat. His face was scrunched up and his lips were pursed.
God created Italy according to the plan of Michelangelo.
(Mark Twain)
Italy(official name - Italian Republic) - a state in southern Europe, in the center of the Mediterranean. The origin of the word "italia" is not exactly known. According to the most common view, the term came from Greece. It means " country of calves“because it was the bull that was the symbol of the peoples who once inhabited the south of the Apennine Peninsula.
Symbols Italy
The colors of the Italian flag were adopted in 1797. The tricolor (red, white, green) expresses the ideals citizens of Italy - brotherhood, equality and justice.
- Pizza ♨
To date, more than 2000 of its variants are known. On June 11, 1889, the most famous pizzaiolo of Naples prepared a pizza according to the colors of the national flag of Italy - tomatoes, mozzarella and basil, which Queen Margherita of Savoy gave her name "Margherita". Since then, poor people's food has conquered expensive restaurants.
- Italian "boot"
Perhaps, living in a territory similar to a boot, you can learn how to make beautiful and comfortable shoes.
Political structure
Italy is a republic with a president and a bicameral parliament.
Administrative device
in 1948, 20 regions (regions) were allocated, which are divided into provinces (95 in total), and they, in turn, into districts.
Population
In the 21st century population Italy has reached 58 million members, in terms of population density (about 200 people per sq. km), Italy ranks 4th in Europe.
Dominant religion- Catholicism.
State language- Italian, belongs to the Romance group of languages Indo-European family. Also in Italy there are various dialects of Italian. It is customary to divide all dialects into dialects of the North, Center and South. Modern Italian language can be called a dialect that has managed to "make a career", it is widely used in social and political life. At the same time, in the Florentine dialect, they talk more not about politics, but about culture, like the greatest people art born in Florence - Dante Alighieri, Giovanni Boccaccio. German officially recognized as equal with Italian in Bolzano and South Tyrol, Slovenian has a regional status in Gorizia and Trieste, French - in the Aosta Valley.
Geographical position
An Italian "boot" crashes into the Mediterranean Sea between Greece and Spain. The coast makes up 80% of the borders and is washed by the waters of four inland seas - the Ligurian, Tyrrhenian, Ionian and Adriatic.
According to the relief, Italy is divided into three main regions - the Apennine Peninsula, the Padana Plain and the Italian Alps.
The mountains
Apennines - a range of limestone hills from Genoa to Sicily, formed as a result of a later geological movement.
The Italian Alps arose as a result of the addition of the earth's crust in the Tertiary period and form a giant barrier between Italy and northern Europe.
Plains and lowlands
The valleys occupy about a quarter of the territory of Italy. The Padana Plain lies on the site of a vast tectonic depression between the Alps and the Apennines, which is gradually filled with river sediments.
Rivers
The Po River crosses the Padan Plain from west to east (652 km). Its numerous tributaries flow down from the adjacent slopes of the Alps and the Apennines. Many hydroelectric power plants have been installed on the abundant alpine tributaries. The upper tributaries of the Po cut through the Italian Alps in a dense network of transverse valleys, along which railroads and highways run, connecting Italy with France and Switzerland. The rivers of the Apennine Peninsula are small, the largest is the Tiber (405 km).
lakes
A characteristic feature of the Pre-Alps zone is the presence of large lakes (Lago Maggiore, Lugano, Como, Iseo, Garda). There are many resorts in the basins of these lakes.
Climate
In most of Italy, the climate is Mediterranean, in the Podan Plain it becomes temperate, in the upper zone of the mountains it is cold. The climate also differs along the coast. So, in the Tyrrhenian it is marine, in the Adriatic it is more continental. Local climatic features are inherent in the Apennine peninsula and islands, the Padana Plain and the Italian Alps. The peninsula is a zone of subtropics with a predominance of air masses of Atlantic origin: tropical in summer, temperate in winter. The average July temperature is around 24°C in the north of the peninsula and 26°C in the south. Winds in summer are predominantly northeasterly of low strength, with the exception of the African sirocco (south or southwest wind). Winters are characterized by cyclones with precipitation. The average temperature in the south of the peninsula is 10°С, in the inner parts 3°С. Snow falls at low altitudes only in the northern part of the peninsula; a stable cover is formed only in the mountains. Winter is mild. Particularly mild climate on the Italian Riviera (average January temperature in Genoa 7°C)
Achievements of the ancient Romans
- Roman fountains
The word fountain comes from the Latin fontis - source. In ancient Roman fountains, water did not spurt upwards, but flowed down. Water flowed through the aqueducts into numerous fountains: they imitated springs, and the inhabitants took water from them. The Romans hardly knew stomach diseases, since the water supplied from the slopes of the local hills was triple purified through coal, sand and grass filters.
- Roman roads and bridges
During the Roman Republic, paved roads began to be laid. The constantly fighting Romans, with the onset of the rainy season, did not want to stop the movement of the legions - they began to pave the roads with stone.
The censor Appius Claudius began to build the first road between Rome and Capia. It took over 100 years to complete. After 900 years, the historian Procopius called the Appian Way one of the wonders of the world: not a single stone was destroyed or even worn out. It is still in use today; traces of Roman carts have been preserved in some of its sections. The distance between the wheels of Roman carts (about 143 cm) became the modulus of track width for many railways, since the tests of the first trains were carried out in mines and mines built by the Romans.
Mile stones (pillars) were installed along the roads through a thousand (Latin mille - a thousand) double steps. The length of a Roman mile was about 1500 m.
- Traffic Laws
The traffic in Rome was quite intense, and Julius Caesar took over its regulation. To avoid traffic collisions, one-way streets were introduced. The passage of private chariots and wagons in Rome during the day was prohibited. Visitors had to leave their transport outside the city.
The prototype of the newspaper is considered to be the handwritten “Act populi romani diurna” (“Daily deeds of the Roman people”). They appeared in Rome in 168 BC. - in busy squares they put up boards on which they wrote news with chalk. There were "fried" facts, and weather reports, and the heading "incidents".
- Roman law
The legal system of the Roman Empire was preserved through comprehensive development. The Code of Justinian (528 - 534) formed the basis of some modern legislation (for example, France or the State of Louisiana in the USA).
From the history
You can learn more about the history of Italy by clicking on this link.
Istpravda.ru
In the era of the primitive communal system, between 1200-1100. BC, italic tribes appeared on the territory of modern Italy. Somewhat later - the Illyrians, then, around 900-800. BC. - Etruscans, and in the VIII century. BC. - Greeks who settled mainly in the south of the Apennine Peninsula and in Sicily. In 753 BC, according to legend, Romulus founded Rome. In the VI century. BC. Rome came under the rule of the Etruscan kings. Around 500 BC a republic was established in Rome. And in 133 BC. Rome asserted its dominance throughout the Mediterranean.
From 27 BC the era of the Roman Empire began - the period of the greatest expansion of its borders. In 395, the division of the Roman Empire into Western and Eastern (Byzantium) took place. In 476 the Germanic tribes captured Rome and the Western Roman Empire fell.
Since 568, most of the territory of present-day Italy was occupied by the Lombard kingdom, which in 774 was conquered by Emperor Charlemagne.
Starting from 962, the attempts of the emperors of the "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" to assert their power in the north and in the center of Italy began to be opposed by the 8th century. Papal States.
In 1072, with the beginning of the reign of Roger I, the rule of the Normans began in southern Italy. In 1194, the Norman regions passed to the German king and Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI, but after the end of the reign of the Staufen dynasty in 1268, a period of territorial fragmentation began and in the south, captured by the Normans, the Kingdom of Sicily was formed, which entered into an alliance with the papal throne .
In 1176, the Lombard League of northern Italian cities, strengthened by trade with the East, with the support of the pope, defeated Frederick I Barbarossa at Legnano.
In the VIII-XI centuries. in southern Italy, the maritime republics of Amalfi, Gaeta, and Naples strengthened, and in northern Italy, the republics of Genoa, Pisa, and Venice.
In 1442, Alphonse V, King of Aragon, became "King of the Two Sicilies" and until 1713 the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily were under the rule of the Spanish crown.
In the XVI century. The Habsburg dynasty began a struggle with France for influence in northern Italy fragmented into small states. In 1705, as a result of the victory of Prince Eugene at the Battle of Turin, all of Lombardy went to Austria. In 1713, after the end of the War of the Spanish Succession, Austria, under the terms of the Peace of Utrecht, received the Kingdom of Naples and the island of Sardinia, and Sicily was ceded to Savoy.
In 1738, under the terms of the Peace of Vienna, Charles VI, Archduke of Austria and Holy Roman Emperor, ceded Naples and Sicily to Spain. Soon, after the death of the last representative of the Medici family, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany also ceded to Austria.
In 1796, Napoleon I launched a successful campaign against Savoy, which marked the beginning of the liberation of the Italian states from Austrian tutelage. And in 1797, according to the Campoformian peace treaty between France and Austria, the Italian lands from Austria passed to France. Soon Napoleon I abolished the Papal States, the territory of which he also annexed to France.
In 1805, Napoleon united the Austrian duchies of Milan and Mantua, the duchy of Modena, the Republic of Venice, the Papal States and the Austrian possessions on the Adriatic coast of Istria and Dalmatia into a single state - the Kingdom of Italy, of which he became king, and appointed king of the Kingdom of Naples in 1806. Joseph Bonaparte, who was then replaced by Joachim Murat.
After the defeat of Napoleon, the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815) restored the rule of the Austrian Habsburgs in Italy, but the Kingdom of Naples, the Papal States and the Kingdom of Sardinia (centered in Piedmont) remained independent.
In 1838 the Kingdom of Sardinia declared war on Austria, but was defeated. Only the French under Napoleon III in 1859 forced the Austrians to retreat, and in 1861, after Garibaldi liberated the regions of southern Italy that joined the Kingdom of Sardinia, the Sardinian king Victor Emmanuel II took the title of king of Italy.
In 1866, Italy declared war on Austria and was defeated, but Prussia, an ally of Italy, defeated the Austrians in the Sadova region, as a result of which Lombardy and Venice were ceded to Italy. In 1870, Rome was liberated from the Austrians, the secular power of the Pope was abolished, and Rome became the capital of a united Italy.
In 1882, the Italian king Umberto I concluded the Tripartite Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary. However, in 1915 Italy joined the I world war on the side of the Entente.
In 1919, under the terms of the Saint-Germain Peace Treaty, Italy received South Tyrol, Istria and Trieste from Austria.
In 1925, in Italy, with the consent of King Vittorio Emmanuele III, the fascist dictatorship of Benito Mussolini was established.
In July 1940, Italy declared war on Great Britain and France, and in 1941 on the USSR. In 1943, Anglo-American troops landed in southern Italy and liberated Sicily. Mussolini was overthrown and Italy announced its unconditional surrender.
In 1946, Umberto II was proclaimed king of Italy, but in a referendum on the form of government of the country, the majority of the population voted for a republic, which was officially proclaimed on June 10, 1946, and the king left Italy.
In 1949 Italy joined NATO, in 1951 the European Coal and Steel Community, in 1955 it joined the UN, and in 1957 it became one of the founding members of the Common Market.
In 1954, Trieste was returned to Italy.
Flag
The first states that existed on the territory of Italy, the merchant city-republics of Genoa and Venice, had their own flags already in the Middle Ages. These flags were used primarily as identification marks for ships. For example, the trading galleys of Genoa carried a white flag with a straight red cross, the warships of Venice - a red flag on which there was an image of a golden winged lion with a halo (the symbol of the Evangelist St. Mark), who leaned with one paw on a book, and the other held a sword.
On the flag of the trading galleys of Venice, a lion was depicted without a sword, and on the sheets of an open book were inscribed the letters "RTMEM" - an abbreviation of the expression "Peace be with you, Mark, my evangelist." The flag of the Sicilian Kingdom was a coat of arms: a four-part panel, divided diagonally with the pillars of Aragon and black eagles. The emblem was the flag of Tuscany.
The first Italian campaign, which Napoleon carried out in 1796-1799, crushed all the states that had previously existed on the Apennine Peninsula. Instead, Jacobin republics were formed: Ligurian, Roman, Parthenopean, Ancona. However, most of them were eliminated during the Austro-Russian counter-offensive in 1799, and the rest - after the end of the Second Italian Campaign, united into the Italian Kingdom, which lasted until 1814.
Almost all the Jacobin republics used flags with three stripes of the same size and some color variations - modeled on the French flag of 1790. The banners of the Italian military detachments created to support Bonaparte's army were of the same type. Moreover, by this time, white, red and green color a, which have long been considered national in this region.
So, according to some information, a similar flag was used during a student demonstration in Bologna in 1795. White and red colors were also present on the ancient coat of arms of the Milan Commune (a red cross in a silver field), and green until 1782 was the color of the uniform of the Milan Municipal Guard . Subsequently, the banners of the Italian Legion were of the same colors, the soldiers of which were called up from the lands of Emilia and Romagna.
Most likely, this was the reason that a flag was created from these three colors, formed in 1796 in Italy on the right bank of the river. Po from Modena, Bologna, Reggio and Ferra, dependent on France of the Cispadan Republic.
The flag was approved on January 7, 1797, when the Parliament of the Cispadan Republic, at the suggestion of the deputy Giuseppe Compagnoni, decided: “... the use of the tricolor green-white-red Cispadan flag becomes widespread. The same colors should be present on the cispadan cockade.” In the center of the white stripe of this flag was the emblem of the republic - a quiver with four arrows, decorated with war trophies and surrounded by a wreath of laurel leaves.
On July 17, 1797, the Transpadan and Cispadan republics were merged into the Cisalpine Republic (this state, with an area of 42500 km2, included Lombardy, today's province of Navarre and most of Emilia). The militia of the city of Milan became the basis for the created national guard of the republic. And since the colors of the uniforms of the city's police were green and red, the uniforms of the National Guard received the same colors, and the flag of three equal horizontal stripes of "Milan colors" became the flag of the new republic: white, red and green.
However, already on May 11, 1798, the Grand Council of the Cisalpine Republic decided that the state flag should consist of three vertical stripes: green, white and red. These were the colors of the flag, which was unofficial national flag since 1797, but the stripes on it were horizontal and the order of their alternation was different. This tricolor flag symbolized the patriots of Italy, the program to create a future Italy, and the Christian virtues: faith, hope and charity (the patriots personified each color with a specific virtue).
The new flag was officially approved by Napoleon, the President of the Cisalpine Republic.
When in 1799 Napoleon went to conquer Egypt, the Cisalpine Republic was liquidated, but on June 4, 1800, after the return of Napoleon, its green-white-red flag was restored. But by this time, this flag had become a symbol of anti-reformist forces, so on August 20, 1802, the patriots adopted a flag with a different design: a red square cloth with an inscribed white rhombus in which a green square is inscribed.
In 1805, the Cisalpine Republic was transformed into the Kingdom of Italy and in the same year Napoleon approved its flag: a rectangular red cloth with an inscribed white rhombus in which a green rectangle is inscribed with the coat of arms of the kingdom.
Other states semi-independent of France that existed during this period in Italy also had their own flags.
After the fall of Napoleon, the Congress of Vienna in 1815 confirmed the former fragmentation of Italy, which again fell under Austrian influence, and the tricolor flag was banned for three decades - new flags were approved for the Italian states, most of which were created on the basis of red and white - red flag of Austria.
However, the green-white-red flag was used by Italian patriots as a symbol of freedom both in 1831, during the Mazzinian uprising, and during uprisings in the papal domains. Everywhere in Italy, white, red and green represented a common hope that ignited enthusiasts and inspired poets. “Let us gather under a single banner of hope,” wrote Goffredo Mameli in his hymn in 1847.
In March 1848, a revolution broke out in Vienna, which immediately led to the uprising of the entire north of Italy and the proclamation of the independence of some Italian states.
The Austrian troops capitulated on March 22, 1848 (later, the King of Sardinia, Charles Albert, proclaimed this day the Independence Day of Italy), but the full independence of all of Italy was achieved only by 1860.
On March 23, 1848, King Charles Albert made a famous speech to the population of the Lombardo-Venetian region, announcing the beginning of the war for independence. His speech ended with the words: "..to fully express the feeling of national unity, we want our troops ... to bear the coat of arms of the Savoy dynasty on the tricolor Italian banner."
Soon, in order to avoid merging the white and red colors of the coat of arms with the same colors on the flag, a blue border was added to the dynastic coat of arms.
Soon similar flags were adopted in other states of Italy.
On February 18, 1861, the first all-Italian parliament was convened in Turin, which on March 14, 1861 proclaimed the formation of the Kingdom of Italy. The king of Italy was the king of Sardinia (Savoy dynasty), and the national Italian flag was the tricolor, approved in 1848 by King Emmanuel II of Sardinia.
With the coat of arms of the king (a silver cross in a red shield with a blue border) in the center, this flag was officially approved as the state flag of the independent Italian kingdom.
But the lack of an appropriate law on the state flag (such a law existed only for military banners) led to the fact that panels began to be illegally produced in form completely far from the original. Only in 1925 were the types of national and state flags legally determined.
And on the state flag, which was hung out in the residences of the monarch, at parliamentary meetings, in institutions and diplomatic missions, the royal crown was added.
During the years of Mussolini's dictatorship, along with the state flag, a flag was also used, in the center of which a black Roman eagle was depicted, holding in its paws a golden litkor bunch - the emblem of the Nazis.
After the end of World War II, on June 18, 1946, Italy was proclaimed a republic. And on June 19, 1946, a legislative presidential decree determined the temporary appearance of the new flag: green-white-red vertical stripes without any emblems.
The Constitutional Assembly approved this flag at a meeting held on March 24, 1947, which was then reflected in Article 12 of the Italian Constitution.
In this form, the flag of Italy has remained unchanged to this day. Its proportions are 2:3.
Coat of arms
After the fall of the Roman Empire on the territory of present-day Italy, different states existed at different periods of history: the Lombard Kingdom, the Republics of Amalfi, Gaeta, Naples, Genoa, Pisa and Venice, the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily, the Duchy of Milan, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the duchies of Milan, Mantua, Modena and others. All of them had their own symbols of state sovereignty.
The coat of arms of the Duchy of Milan was a blue snake swallowing a pink baby (the original meaning of the coat of arms is that the baby comes out of the snake, like the created world emerging from primeval chaos).
The coat of arms of the Duchy of Tuscany - red "balls", is the coat of arms of the ruling Medici dynasty, symbolizing the pills with which the ancestors of the dukes - pharmacists treated the sick.
The emblem of the Most Serene Republic of Genoa was a red cross in a silver field.
The coat of arms of the Kingdom of Sicily was a four-part shield, divided diagonally, with pillars of Aragon and black eagles (see the article on the coats of arms of Spain).
The coat of arms of the Most Serene Republic of Venice is a golden winged lion in a blue field, symbolizing Mark the Evangelist, the patron saint of the republic.
The ancient coat of arms of the Kingdom of Sardinia, where the Savoy dynasty ruled since 1720, recalled the fight against the Saracens: a red cross in a silver field, in each quarter - a black head of a Moor. In the XVIII century. instead of this coat of arms, a dynastic one, known since 1239, began to be used: a silver cross in a red field.
In the kleinod of the Savoyard coat of arms there is a golden winged head of a lion, as if holding a helmet in its mouth. This symbolized the connection with Venice, where the Savoy dukes were considered respectable patricians. This coat of arms is similar to the coat of arms of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem (Order of Malta), which recalls the help of Amedeus IV of the Order of Savoy in the defense against the Turks of the island of Rhodes. The former coat of arms of the Savoy dynasty - a black eagle in a golden field, was sometimes used later, but with a "Rhodian" cross on the eagle's chest.
But all these emblems are the emblems of the states that were part of present-day Italy. The first proper Italian coat of arms was established by Emperor Napoleon I. In 1805, he took the title of King of Italy and was crowned with an ancient Italian crown, which looked like a gold hoop without teeth, inside of which an iron one was placed. According to legend, the iron hoop of this crown, called the “iron crown of the Lombard kings,” was made from a nail that Jesus Christ was nailed to the cross, which is why it had such a name.
The shield of this coat of arms is five-part with a central shield. In the first part, in a red field, there are two crossed keys of St. Peter and a staff, topped with a papal tiara. In the second, in a blue field, the lion of St. Mark, without a Bible and crowned with a Phrygian cap - the Jacobin symbol of freedom. In the third - in a blue field a white eagle (the coat of arms of Modena). In the fourth - in a red field, divided by a silver cross, a blue tournament collar at the head, in the fourth part of the field - a silver tower. In the fifth, in a silver field, there is a blue snake, plucking a baby out of its mouth (the coat of arms of Milan).
In the central shield in a golden field with a red border burdened with eight silver rings- the blue iron crown of Lombardy. Framing the shield, which rests on the chest of the golden French imperial eagle, is a chain with the badge of the Order of the Legion of Honor. Above the eagle's head is a Napoleonic star. All this rests on an ermine mantle with a green lining.
Coat of arms of the Italian Kingdom (1805-1814)
Although after the overthrow of Napoleon, the Italian kingdom was again fragmented, but the idea of Italian unity was accepted by the king of the Savoy dynasty who ruled Sardinia, whose state, in addition to the island of Sardinia, also included Piedmont, Savoy and Genoa.
Coat of arms of the kings of Sardinia (1815-1870)
In 1848-1880. the standard of the King of Sardinia, white with a blue border, had the coat of arms of Savoy in the center superimposed on top of four Italian flags.
On March 17, 1861, the King of Sardinia became the King of Italy, whose coat of arms was established by the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Savoy: a silver straight cross in a red field. The shield was surrounded by the chain of the Order of Renewal, as well as oak and laurel branches. This was placed on the royal mantle topped with a crown and sometimes a star.
Coat of arms of the Italian Kingdom (1870-1890)
However, on the royal standard from 1880 and on coins issued between 1900 and 1910. the coat of arms was different - a black eagle crowned with a crown, on the chest of which the Sardinian coat of arms with a blue border.
Coat of arms on the standard of the King of Italy (1880)
On January 1, 1890, a new state coat of arms was approved by royal decree. It was surmounted by a specially designed "Savoy royal crown", which was similar to a regular royal crown, but the leaf-shaped prongs on its hoop were interspersed with white, red-edged Savoy crosses, and the orb crowning the crown was adorned with a golden trifoliate cross traditionally associated with the saint. Mauritius is the patron saint of Savoy.
Also, the coat of arms had a magnificent canopy and the state banner, the staff of which was crowned with the Savoy eagle and fluttering ribbons with the battle cries of the family: “Savoy!”, “Holy Mauritius!” and "Good news!".
For a long time, the coat of arms remained practically unchanged, only in late XIX in. the shield was surrounded by a sash with the inscription FERT (an abbreviation of the motto "Fortitudo Eius Rhodum Tenuit" - "His valor saved Rhodes", referring to the exploits of King Amadeus IV) with the sign of the Order of the Annunciation, and framed by olive and oak branches.
Large and medium coat of arms of Italy
During the years of Mussolini's dictatorship, along with the coat of arms of the kingdom, the emblem of the fascists, the lictor bundle, also became the state symbol of Italy. Two lictor bundles replaced the shield holders - lions on the state emblem.
In 1943, the dictatorship was overthrown and the coat of arms was returned to its original form. Thus, throughout the history of the coat of arms of the kingdom, its central part - a silver cross in a red field - remained unchanged.
The modern state symbol of Italy was approved by the president of the country on May 5, 1948. But this is not a coat of arms, but a state emblem, since it was not drawn up in the traditions of classical Italian heraldry.
In the center of the emblem is a silver five-pointed star with a red border, which symbolizes a single nation and republic. Under the star is a steel gear - a symbol of labor and human creation. Branches frame the coat of arms: on the right, olive - a symbol of peace and the southern part of the country; on the left is oak - a symbol of strength and the northern part. At the bottom, the branches are tied with a red ribbon with the name of the state "REPUBBLICA ITALIANA".
The decision to create the symbol of Italy was made in October 1946.
The government of A. de Gasperi established a special Commission chaired by I. Bonomi, which set to work with great enthusiasm. It was decided to announce open competition throughout the country with the following conditions: the Star of Italy, as well as the symbols of its lands and municipalities, must be displayed on the coat of arms. At the same time, the use of symbols of political parties was strictly prohibited.
To the authors of five the best works a prize of 10,000 lire was promised. The creative process of creating the state emblem lasted almost two years. About 500 people took part in the two announced competitions, among which were as professional artists, and amateurs. A total of 800 sketches were submitted. 637 black-and-white drawings by 341 authors were sent to the first competition. Five winners were invited to make new sketches, but on a more specific topic put forward by the Commission. Namely, in the center of the emblem there is a fortress wall with towers, forming the shape of a crown, framed by garlands of branches typical of the Italian flora.
Above - the golden Star of Italy, below - the image of the sea, as well as the words: Unity and Freedom. The choice fell on a sketch by Paolo Paschetto. The artist received an additional 50,000 lire and the task of preparing the final drawing, which the Commission subsequently had to submit to the government for approval, placing it, along with the work of other finalists, in the exhibition hall on Via Margutta.
But in the process of discussions, opinions were divided, and therefore a new Commission was appointed, which announced a second competition. Unfortunately, there is no information about him, but the analysis of some documents gives the right to assume that his main task was to search for a symbol associated with the idea of labor. And this time the winner again was Paolo Paschetto, whose drawings were further corrected by the members of the Commission.
This sketch was sent to the Constitutional Assembly and, despite some contradictions, was approved at its meeting on January 31, 1948. And on May 5, after completing all the improvements and determining the final colors, the President of the Republic, Enrico de Nicola, signed legislative decree No. 535 on the assignment of Italy her new symbol.
Thus, the emblem of the Italian Republic consists of 3 elements: a star, a cogwheel and olive and oak branches. The star is one of the most ancient iconographic images of Italy. It has always been associated with the image of this country, which, it is believed, illuminates with its radiant radiance. This is how it was represented in the iconography of the times of the Risorgimento (Italian Risorgimento - literally “revival”, the national liberation movement of the Italian people against foreign domination, for the unification of fragmented Italy, as well as the period when this movement took place (end of the 18th century - 1861), ended in 1870 by joining the Italian Kingdom of Rome) and so it existed on the great coat of arms of the United Kingdom until 1890. Then, during the Reconstruction, the star crowned the republican badge of honor - the Star of Italian Solidarity.
Today, her presence indicates that she belongs to the armed forces of Italy. The steel cogwheel is a symbol of labor and reflects the first article of the Constitutional Law, which states: "Italy is a democratic republic founded on labor." The olive branch symbolizes the peacefulness of the nation, meaning the desire for internal harmony in the country and international brotherhood beyond its borders. The oak branch speaks of the strength and dignity of the Italian people. At the same time, both of these branches represent the two most typical types of Italian vegetation.
But since its approval, this emblem has been considered by many to be insufficiently specific to Italy, and on the country's maritime flags, as well as on the presidential standard, the combined coat of arms of Venice, Genoa, Amalfi and Pisa is depicted instead. Therefore, since 1987, work has been underway in Italy to create a new state emblem, but things have not yet moved beyond projects.
The Italian Republic is a parliamentary republic
Area: 301,228 km2.
Capital: Rome.
Official language: Italian.
The head of state is the president. The highest body of legislative power is the bicameral parliament, the highest body of executive power is the cabinet of ministers (government).
Administrative division: 20 regions, including 94 provinces. It is also accepted to divide into economic regions of the North, Center and South.
Seborga
The Principality of Seborga is a constitutional monarchy.
Area: 14 km2.
Capital: Seborga
Located in Liguria, in the Italian Riviera of Flowers, on the border with France.
Seborga (originally Castrum Sepulcri), a fief of the Counts of Ventimiglia, was a very important base for the Katari, a religious sect that later spread to nearby Provenza and Lingua De Hoc. In 954, the fief of Seborga passed to the Benedictine monks from Santa Onorato. In 954, Seborga became a city-state in which, according to the monastic charter of that time, the abbot was elected, but he was also the ruler of the city - the prince of Seborga. In this regard, British historians consider Seborga the first constitutional monarchy in the world.
Soon the fief of Seborga, which included the church of San Michele in Ventimiglia with vast surrounding territories, was awarded the status of a principality. After the emperor of Vienna assigned a new status to the possession in 1079 and received confirmation of the fact of donation from the counts of Ottone and Corrado, as well as from their mother, Countess Armilina, Seborga became the principality of the Holy Roman Empire.
On December 24, 1666, a mint was opened in the Principality by Prince/Abbé Edward, which minted its own Luigino coin. On April 23, 1995, Prince Giorgio I, based on the existing medieval legislative acts, resumed the work of the mint and the minting of luigino.
In 1963, almost the entire population of Seborga, as they elected an abbot / prince in the Middle Ages, elected their ruler - Prince Giorgio I.
Since in 1748 the Principality of Seborga was not included in the Republic of Genoa, it was not defined as part of the Kingdom of Sardinia at the Venice Congress, it is not mentioned in the Act of Unification of Italy in 1861 and there is no official document on the inclusion of the Principality of Seborga in the Republic of Italy , formed in 1946, experts in international law recognize that the Principality of Seborga cannot be considered an integral part of Italy.
Leonid Spatkay, site istpravda.ru
The flag of Italy consists of three vertical stripes: green, white and red. There are several versions of why these colors were chosen. The official version says that green symbolizes faith, white - hope, and red - love. The colors of the flag were approved by Napoleon. Initially, the stripes were arranged horizontally.
The coat of arms of Italy features a white, red-edged five-pointed star over a five-spoked cogwheel. The composition is framed by an olive branch on the left and an oak branch on the right. The branches are tied by a red ribbon, on which the "Italian Republic" (Italian: REPUBBLICA ITALIANA) is written in capital white letters.
The five-pointed star means the protection of the country. This symbol is used with late XVIII century. The cogwheel refers to the first article of the constitution: "Italy is a republic founded on labour." The olive branch symbolizes the internal and external essence of the country, its peacefulness and loyalty. The oak branch signifies the strength and dignity of the Italians. In addition, both branches, being typical representatives flora Italy, symbolize its nature.
The coat of arms of Italy appeared on May 5, 1948. It was published by the President of Italy Enrico de Nicola.
National anthem of Italy
The anthem of Italy is the "Song of the Italians" (Italian. Il Canto degli Italiani, also known as the "Brothers of Italy" (Italian. Fratelli d'Italia). It was composed by Goffredo Mameli in 1847. The music was written by Michele Novaro. She became the anthem used since the end of 1946, but unofficially.Until now, the Senate of the Italian Republic has not made a corresponding amendment to the Constitution, and the "Song of the Italians" is still the country's temporary anthem.