The Italian tricolor has its roots in the ancient Cispadana Republic: green, white and red. White and red are the colors that appeared in the ancient municipal coat of arms of Milan. The green that of the uniforms of the Milanese civic guard. Exactly 225 years have passed since that distant January 7, 1797. When, in the council chamber of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia, the Patriotic Hall, the Italian national flag was born. He reports the minutes drawn up that day which, at the meeting of the Cispadano Congress, was attended by one hundred deputies, representing the main cities of the Cispadana: Bologna, Ferrara, Modena and Reggio Emilia.
On that cold day in January 1797, in Reggio Emilia, the three colors green, white and red became representative of Italy and they were adopted not only for the flag but also for the cockades that all the defendants should have pinned on the jacket. The proposal, by the deputy Giuseppe Compagnoni, stated in fact "that the Standard or Cispadana Flag in three colors Green, White, and Red is made universal, and that these three colors are also used in the Cispadana Cockade, which must be worn by all". The Cispadana Republic it had been established in 1796 to bring together the main cities that Napoleon had made independent from the ancient governments. In 1797 it merged with the Cisalpine Republic, including a large part of the ancient Duchy of Milan and Lombardy.
When the tricolor was a symbol of hope for Italian patriots
However, these were still years of great turbulence. The campaign in Italy led by Napoleon had led to the birth of numerous Jacobin republics with a democratic imprint. But the times were not yet ripe. The Congress of Vienna (1814-15) and the Restoration had stifled the first demands for freedom. but yet that flag it had become the image and symbol of Italy. It fluttered on the barricades of the early Risorgimento uprisings. It had become a sign of freedom that ignited the enthusiasm of the people and of the heroes of the Risorgimento. A symbol of hope. Which made write to Goffredo Mameli in what will become the national anthem Il canto degli Italiani "Collect us a single flag, a hope". This hope was realized in 1861 with the unification of Italy, even if already in 1848 the Savoy had adopted the green, white and red banner for the kingdom of Sardinia. “Personalizing it” with the white cross in the center on a red field.
The "very lively, general, prolonged applause" to the Constituent Assembly which ratifies the Italian flag
Between ups and downs, it is necessary to arrive at the birth of the Republic for the Italian flag to definitively become the current one. A presidential legislative decree of June 19, 1946 established how the new flag should be, confirmed by the Constituent Assembly in the session of March 24, 1947 and inserted in article 12 of our Constitutional Charter. The official language of the Constituent Assembly reports: "The flag of the republic is the Italian tricolor: green, white and red, with vertical bands of equal size". (It is approved. The Assembly and the audience in the stands stand up. Very lively, general, prolonged applause.) ". And those "very lively, general, prolonged applause" say a lot about the emotion that must have crossed the hearts of all the participants in the vote of the session at that moment. Paolo Peluffo, author of an essay on the Tricolor for the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, writes: "It seems banal but behind these few simple words lies the great Risorgimento history of our country which led to the unification of Italy, of which the flag was the main element of aggregation".
Green, white and red why? The most common version has it that green represents that of the valleys, white the snow of our mountains, red the color of the blood of the martyrs who fought for the unification of Italy. An interpretation with a more strictly religious meaning intends to read faith in white, hope in green, charity in red, the three theological virtues. Be that as it may, the Tricolor has a meaning of extreme importance. It represents in fact one of the three symbols of the republican state, together with the National Anthem and the Head of State. As if to say, one of our most representative pillars.
