page_title: Emblem of Italy
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Emblem of Italy / Description
caption_attribution_description: Rome English: "Arma dei Carabinieri" (Italian military police) sign. Italiano: Simbolo istituzionale dell'Arma dei Carabinieri, presente all'entrata di tutte le caserme.
context_page_description: The emblem of the Italian Republic was formally adopted by the newly formed Italian Republic on 5 May 1948. Although often referred to as a coat of arms, it is technically an emblem as it was not designed to conform to traditional heraldic rules.
  The emblem comprises a white five-pointed star, the Stella d’Italia, with a thin red border, superimposed upon a five-spoked cogwheel, standing between an olive branch to the left side and an oak branch to the right side; the branches are in turn bound together by a red ribbon with the inscription "REPVBBLICA ITALIANA". The emblem is used extensively by the Italian government.
  The armorial bearings of the House of Savoy, blazoned gules a cross argent, were previously in use by the former Kingdom of Italy; the supporters, on either side a lion rampant Or, were replaced with fasci littori during the fascist era.
context_section_description: The central element of the emblem is the five-pointed star white star, also called Stella d'Italia (English: "Star of Italy"), which is the oldest national symbol of Italy, since it dates back to ancient Greece. In this historical epoch Italy was associated with the Star of Venus because it was located west of the Hellenic peninsula. Venus, immediately after sunset, is in fact visible on the horizon towards the west. It is the traditional symbolic representation of Italy since the Risorgimento and refers to the traditional iconography that Italy wants to portray as an attractive woman surrounded by a turreted crown - from which the allegory of Italia turrita - and dominated by a bright star, the Star of Italy.
  The star marked the first award of Republican reconstruction, the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity, and still indicates membership of the Armed Forces today.
  In the republican emblem the Star of Italy is superimposed on a steel cogwheel, symbol of work, which is at the base of the Republic. Article 1 of the Italian Constitution reads:
  Italy is a democratic republic, built on labour. Sovereignty belongs to the people, who exercise it in the forms and within the limits of the Constitution [...]
  — Article 1
  However, this reference to work should not be understood as a legal rule, which would oblige the State to protect it in detail, but rather to refer to the principle connected to it, which is the foundation of Italian society. The second paragraph, instead, assigning sovereignty exclusively to the people, establishes the democratic character of the republic. The cogwheel is also present on the flag and the emblem of Angola and on the emblem of Mozambique, nations left by the process of decolonization of the Portuguese Empire as well as on the coats of arms of the Italian municipalities of Assago, Cafasse and Chiesina Uzzanese.
  The set formed by the cogwheel and the star of Italy is enclosed by an oak branch, located on the right, which symbolizes the strength and dignity of the Italians (in Latin the term robur means both oak and moral strength and physics), and from an olive branch, located instead on the left, which represents Italy's will for peace, both internally and vis-à-vis other nations. Both oak and olive trees are characteristic of the Italian landscape. The green branches are in turn bound together by a red ribbon bearing the inscription REPVBBLICA ITALIANA in white capital letters. As regards Italy's desire for peace, Article 11 of the Constitution states:
  Italy rejects war as an instrument of offense against the freedom of other peoples and as a means of resolving international disputes; allows equal conditions with other states to the limitations of sovereignty necessary for an order that ensures peace and justice between nations; promotes and favors international organizations aimed at this purpose [...]
  — Article 11
  The refusal of war as an instrument of offense does not follow that Italy cannot participate in a conflict, so much so that articles 78 and 87 of the Constitution prescribe which state organs decide the state of war. In particular, for Italy, it is the two chambers that decree the state of war, which is then formally declared by the President of the Republic; the chambers then give the Italian government the necessary powers to face the conflict. Another extraordinary provision in case of war is the duration of the legislature of the two chambers, which can be exceptionally extended, as stated in article 103 of the Constitution, beyond the five canonical years.
  The emblem of the Italian Republic cannot be defined as a coat of arms as it has no shield; the latter being in fact, according to the heraldic definition, an essential part of the crests (as opposed to other decorations such as, for example, crowns, helmets or fronds, which are accessory parts). For this reason it is more correct to refer to it as "national emblem".
caption: Institutional symbol of the Carabinieri, present at the entrance of all the barracks
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