Italian Flag: What the Colors Mean & A Little History – Italy Travel Guide in About Italy tagged About Italy / history / italian history by Jessica As a schoolkid in the United States, I distinctly remember learning precisely what all the symbolism of the U.S. flag meant – the stripes, the stars, and the colors. But for some reason, it didn’t occur to me until recently that there was probably similar meaning behind the design and the colors of the Italian flag. So, like a schoolkid once again, I did my homework – and here’s my report. (Plus a shiny apple for the teacher, just cuz I’m that kind of teacher’s pet.) Italian Flag of Today The current Italian flag consists of three equal vertical bands of color – green, white, and red – with the green being the one on the hoist side. This kind of flag is known as a “tricolor” design, the same kind of design the French flag and Irish flag have.

In Italian the flag is known as Il Tricolore (tree|koh|LOHR|eh) because of this, in much the same way that the American flag is commonly known as the “stars and stripes.” The modern flag of Italy wasn’t made the country’s official flag until 1948, but the three colors in the flag have been in use since the late 1700s representing the various city-states and kingdoms that made up the country we know as Italy today. What do the colors on the Italian flag mean? Unfortunately, the answer to this question isn’t as simple as you’d want it to be. There are poetic meanings assigned to the colors of Italy’s flag, but they were only associated with the flag after the fact – the flag wasn’t given its colors with those meanings in mind. You’ll read that the colors represent hope (green), faith (white), and charity (red); or that the green is for the hills, the white is for the mountains, and the red for the bloody wars for independence. Rather than poetry, however, it’s the historical merging of governments that we have to thank for the meanings behind the three colors of the Italy flag.

As you’ll read below, the first tricolor flag used the colors green, white, and red in order to incorporate the flags and uniforms of regional governments. The flag of Milan, a white flag with a red cross on it, was the flag of the city’s patron saint (St. Ambrose). The red and white colors were combined with the green color of a regional military uniform in a flag to represent a republic in northern Italy, and the rest – as they say – is history. History of the Italian Flag The first use of a green/white/red tricolor design for a flag in what is now Italy was in 1796 when it represented a republic in the north. The red and white came from the flag of Milan, and the green from the color of the region’s military. Within a year, that republic had merged with another – and the tricolor design would be abandoned and re-adopted over the years – but the three colors used would remain. Looking over all of the flags that have flown over Italy is a bit like looking at a quilt.

From the early tricolor of the late 1790s to the square-and-diamond designs of the Napoleonic era, to the re-emergence of the tricolor bands (with ever-changing coats of arms of the whoever was in power in the center) after the fall of Napoleon – the flags of Italy tell the story of the country’s chaotic history. All you need to know about Italian history is that the country wasn’t unified until 1861 (and even then it was only done begrudgingly) and didn’t become a republic until 1946, and then it becomes easy to understand why the flags seem so unstable. It’s because the country was unstable!

DOWNLOAD OUR TRAVEL GUIDES Italy This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website Italy image by Ant�nio Martins-Tuv�lkin, 2 July 2008 Flag adopted 19 June 1946, coat of arms adopted 5 May 1948 Official Name: Italian Republic (Repubblica Italiana) Previous name: Kingdom of Italy Capital: Rome Flag adopted : 19 June 1946 Coat of Arms adopted: 5 May 1948 ISO Code: IT Colors of the Flag - Overview There is not an undoubted answer regarding the meaning of the colors of the Italian flag . However the most valid hypothesis is the one made by V. Fiorini, the colors came from the colors of the uniforms of the civic militia of Milan. These were green and white (so people called them "remolazzitt" (small radish) and some red parts were added on 19 August 1796 when the Militia become the National Guard. In October of the same year the Lombard Legion was constituted, and it adopted an uniform of the same colors and in orders issued the day 9 October (art.

IX), it was stated that "each Cohort will have its National tricolored Lombard standard, differentiated by number, and ornate with the emblems of Liberty". Napoleon himself described the colors : "... the national colors to adopt are the green, the white and the red" (On the message to the Direttorio of 11 October 1796 for the constitution of the Lombard Legion) These standards had the colors vertically displayed with the green at the hoist and they were the very first model of the Tricolore, but only as a military flag. The first true national flag that used the colors horizontally displayed is the Cispadana Republic flag. This flag was adopted on 7 January 1797 and had the red at the top, the white in the middle, charged with the coat of arms, and the green at the bottom. On 17 July 1797 the Cispadana and the Transpadana republics were united as the Cisalpine republic which, on 11 May 1798, officially adopted the Tricolore which is today Italian flag (the flag was already in use at least since January 1798).

We can so say that the model of the Italian flag came from the French Tricolore, while its colors came from the uniforms, like those of many German States. In 1802 the Cisalpine republic was transformed into the Italian republic and on 20 August a new flag was adopted. The new design was of the kind of the Napoleonic military flags: on a red field a white lozenge over which a green rectangle. On March 1805 the republic changed to kingdom and a golden Napoleonic eagle was added on the green field of the flag. The Tricolore, charged with the Savoy shield in the center, became in 1848 the national flag of the Kingdom of Sardinia and, in 1861 of the Kingdom of Italy. The State flag and the war ensign included the Savoy crown over the shield. Finally, on 19 June 1946, the plain Tricolore became the flag of the Italian republic. With decree of 9 November 1947, In order to avoid confusion with the Mexican flag at sea, two different coat of arms were added to the civil and war ensigns.

Mario Fabretto , 3 October 1997 I found in a Napoleon Web page the following explanations by Pr. F. Frasca (Universita La Sapienza, Roma): "Albert Pingaud, in his book 'Bonaparte president de la Republique Italienne', proposed three hypotheses for the choice of the green colour: - Bonaparte himself advised or imposed the green colour as the Corsican colour. Later, he used green for his House. - Green was, before the Revolution, the base of the uniforms of the City militia in Milano. - Green was considered as the Italian colour. This appears in an official note, dated 1805, written for the creation of the Order of the Iron Crown. - Green might represent the idea that the vegetation growth is more profuse in Italy than in the Northern countries." (my own translation from French text).

Ivan Sache, 21 July 1997 Translated from the Italian Constitution: "Article 12 - The flag of the Republic is the tricolor Italian: green, white and red, a triband vertically in equal dimension." Zach Harden, 27 February 2002 Recently the Italian Govern has codified the colours of our flag (circular of the sottosegretario Gianni Letta of 18 Sept. 2002 and circular of the segretario generale Antonio Catricalà of 17 Jan. 2003). The official Pantone codes are: green 18-5642TC white 11-4201TC red 18-1660TC These colours have been determined by a commission of the Poligrafico dello Stato that has made a average of the colours of the flags of the Quirinale (the palace of the President of the Republic), of the Senato (Senate), of the Camera dei Deputati (House of Deputies), of the Presidenza del Consiglio (Presidence of the Council = Govern) and of the Ministry of Defence.

I don't know if they are specialist codes. I've only copied those codes published on the Corriere della Sera (the most important Italian newspaper) when it reported the news about the colours. In the text they say that those codes are "pantoni". The same news are reported in Spanish (but the source is probably the Corriere) at < es.news.yahoo.com >. Guido Abate, 15 and 17 March 2003 According to this piece: "The Government codifies the color shades for the first time: bright meadow green, milk white and tomato red." These are not meant to be "new" colors but rather to strictly codify those traditionally perceived as correct. Anto'nio Martins, 26 March 2003 According to "Televideo" slight different Italian flag has been displayed in the previous days in front of Montecitorio: green and red were darker then ordinary ones and white was replaced by a yellowish. Intini (member of Parliament SDI) asked the government to refer about this unconventional flag.

From < news.bbc.co.uk >: "Italian opposition in flap over flag - Italian opposition leaders have accused Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of tinkering with the national flag, after subtle changes in its colour were introduced. One accused him of a "chromatic coup d'etat". The row began when observers spotted that a new Italian flag flying outside Mr Berlusconi's Rome office was subtly different from its predecessors. The green, they claim, is deeper, the red has taken on ruby hues, and the white has turned to ivory. Last September the Italian Government set up a team to work out exactly what shades of the three colours should be used on Italian flags. Mr Berlusconi's office, it is thought, may be the first to demonstrate the results. But his political opponents are furious. "It's a veritable chromatic coup d'etat," said Green Party president Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio. The party is so angry it wants a national referendum to allow the public to choose the right shades. Passers-by did not share the sense of outrage. "I don't mind - it looks like my flag," said one man.

"It's not ugly even if the red is a little darker." Mr Berlusconi's office accuses his opponents of using the issue to attack the prime minister. The left was carrying out an unjustified attack when it should be more concerned with national interests, said Mr Berlusconi's spokesman." From < story.news.yahoo.com >: "Italians in revolt at new flag (Thu Apr 24, 9:36 AM ET) - ROME (Reuters) - Few people took notice when the Italian government decided to define last year the exact colours of the "tricolore" -- the green, red and white national flag. But the "makeover" has sparked a revolt in the last couple of days since Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's office started flying the new banner, with a slightly deeper green, a new ruby red and an ivory white. "It's a veritable chromatic coup d'etat," said Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio, president of the Green Party, which has called for a national referendum to decide on the "true colours" of the flag whose history dates back to the 1700s.

Opposition leaders say the new version with its "designer colours" is an attack on the traditional flag with its more brassy hues. But most Italians wandering by the prime minister's offices in the centre of Rome shrugged off the facelift. "It's not ugly even if the red is a little darker," one man said. "I don't mind, it looks like my flag." Albert S Kirsch, Marco Lambruschi, Jan Zrzavy and Dipesh Navsaria, 28 April 2003 Concerning these reports and the one reported by Zach Harden from < story.news.yahoo.com >, the Italian flag will remain the same: they said the darker shade was a "technical error" by the flag manufacturer, who misinterpreted the Pantone colour coding decided by the Government. The "chromatic coup d'�tat" caused a lot of quarrels some days ago: (ANSA) - Roma, 29 APR (translated by me) - There could be a parliamentary motion to stop the quarrel abut the colours of the Italian flag.

Some members of parliament belonging both to the Olive-Tree (L'Ulivo) and to the House of the Liberties (CdL) coalizations will ask the goverment to re-examine urgently the chromatic codes established in the circular letter which actually changed the national banner. The government replied that it was a "technical error": the Pantone codes do not correspond to the darker shades of the flags recently shown and so they should be considered erroneous. See < >. So, the colours of the Italian Flag will return the usual ones. Paolo Montanelli, 5 May 2003 On the "Gazzetta Ufficiale" n. 174 of the 28 July 2006, it has been published the Official Protocol of State, in which are determined (on page 34) the right pantone colors of the Italian flag that are the following: Green 17-6153 Red 18-1662. Gianfranco Giancaterino, 13 September 2006 I was perusing info about Italy and came across a PDF for the Italian Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

Above there are only the Pantone Textile (PTC) colors whereas this PDF included printing and web colors (PMS inks, CMYK, RGB, RGB Hex [web safe RGB], RAL and 3M). All info was found on pp. 6 and 18.

Here's the breakdown: Green (PTC 18-5642TC) = PMS 349, CMYK 100/0/100/45, RGB Hex #006221, RGB 0/98/33 White (PTC 11-4201TC) = no PMS, CMYK 0/0/0/0, RGB Hex # FFFFFF, RGB 255/255/255 Red (PTC 18-1660TC) = PMS 032, CMYK 0/100/100/0, RGB Hex #DF0024, RGB 223/0/36 Brian Ellis, 13 August 2007 The protocol manual for the London 2012 Olympics ( Flags and Anthems Manual London 2012 ) provides recommendations for national flag designs. Each NOC was sent an image of the flag, including the PMS shades, for their approval by LOCOG.

Once this was obtained, LOCOG produced a 60 x 90 cm version of the flag for further approval. So, while these specs may not be the official, government, version of each flag, they are certainly what the NOC believed the flag to be. For Italy, PMS 356 green, 1797 red. The vertical flag is simply the horizontal version turned 90 degrees clockwise. Ian Sumner, 12 October 2012 Official Use of the Flag, Ensign and Jack The flag is for national, government and military use in land and for government use at sea. For private use at sea there is an ensign similar to the national flag, but carrying a shield on the white strip with the four symbols of the so-called "Sea Republics" (Repubbliche Marinare) of Italian tradition: first quarter Venice (St. Mark's winged lion holding a book), second Genoa (a red-on-white cross), third Amalfi (Maltese white cross on dark blue) and fourth quarter Pisa (peculiar-shaped white cross on red).

Navy carries the same flag, but the lion holds a sword instead of a book and the whole shield is crowned. These flags are official since 9th November 1947. Alessio Bragadini Until the end of WW II, the Italian flag always had the Savoy coat of arms in the center (without the crown: Merchant, with the crown: naval ensign) {so there was no confusion at sea}. After the war, the plain tricolor was adopted as the national flag, but in order to avoid confusion with the Mexican merchant flag, the new Italian coat of arms was placed in the center of the Italian merchant flag (again with no crown.) Nick Artimovich, 16 March 1998 Article 12 - The flag of the Republic is the Italian tricolor: green, white and red, in three vertical bands, equal in dimension(s). Zach Harden and Manuel Giorgini, 28 February 2002 There is apparently nothing in Decree No.

1305 of 9 November 1947 (confirming a Decree of the Provisional Government of 18 June 1946) which precludes the Italian tricolour from being hung vertically. However, Italy does not have a gonfalon. Mello Luchtenberg and Christopher Southworth, 21 February 2003 Popular Use of the Flag In Italy the national flag is rarely used too, but not for "sacredness" of it. We Italian are not much patriotic, consequently we do not use the flag or its colors in everyday's life. The only occasions you can see the green-white-red flag appended outside the not-official buildings are the victories of Italian soccer team! Giuseppe Bottasini Illegal Use of the Flag ROME (Reuters) - Italian firebrand Umberto Bossi, the leader of the anti-foreigner, anti-European Northern League party, has been handed a 16-month suspended sentence for referring to the Italian flag as toilet paper.

A judge in the northern province of Como convicted the 59-year-old politician of contempt on Tuesday and sentenced him to 16 months in prison but also suspended the term, meaning Bossi will not have to go to jail. Bossi's lawyer Matteo Brigandi confirmed the sentence to Reuters on Wednesday and said Bossi would appeal. At a rally in 1997, Bossi told a woman who was waving the national green, white and red "tricolore" to "put the flag in the toilet," and went on to say: "I've ordered a truckload of tricolore toilet paper to put in the toilet. There's a magistrate who says I can't have it. Come off it!" Bossi, who once wanted to create a separate nation in the north of Italy and call it Padania, is a partner in Italy's incoming center-right government. Now an advocate of devolution, he is on the cards to be made a deputy leader in incoming prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's government and at least two other Northern League members could also be made ministers. Lewis A.

Nowitz, 25 May 2001 Umberto Bossi, leader of the Italian political party Lega Nord was sentenced by a court of law for implying that the Italian flag could be used when going to the toilet. The parliament has however revoked this (obviously because of Bossi's parliamentary imunity). Thus, Italian members of parliament can desecrate the country's flag, but ordinary Italians may not. Source: Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet on 22 December 2001. Elias Granqvist, 23 December 2001 TREMAGLIA REJECTS RECLASSIFICATION OF DEFAMATION OF FLAG (AGI) - Rome, Italy Jan 15 - "The public defamation of a flag as a simple, minor offence? I don't think so..." says Mirko Tremaglia in regards to the possibility of reclassifying this crime as proposed by the Nordio commission to reform the Penal Code. He calls for its withdrawal. The Minister for Italians throughout the world said, "I reject the proposal because the flag is the symbol of the Country.

Its defamation or destruction, precisely because it is the symbol of the Country that represents our history, our soldiers, our lives, cannot be considered a minor offence and must be punished as established in the Penal Code." According to this member of the National Alliance (AN) party, "giving in to this is not compatible with the sentiments, the ideals and the values with which, in particular, Italians throughout the world are united." Tremaglia says that he wishes to also strongly reject the attempt to remove the crime of defamation of the Nation of Italy and of the decisions made by the Head of State. Tremaglia added, "How can this occur at the time when Italian politics are being celebrated and the President of the Republic cites the Tricolor flag as an instructional tool to educate new generations, and at a time in which reforms are being called for in order to reaffirm the prestige and representation of the Head of State." Phil Nelson, 16 January 2003 Variant of the Flag image by Ant�nio Martins-Tuv�lkin, 24 August 2008 During a vacation in Rimini I noticed a flag with unusual proportions (1:2 or similar) as seen in this the photo .

I think it can be a wrong made specimen, I don't know how many flags with this proportions exist in Italy (I've almost always found 2:3 flags). Paolo Montanelli, 22 August 2008 Flag Day - January 7th From press release from the Italian Prime Minister's Office: "On January 7 each year, the Italian flag, which was raised in Reggio Emilia over 200 years ago, is celebrated as a symbol of unity and freedom in our country. It is the flag of the "5 days" of Milan, of Garibaldi's mission and wars for independence; the flag of the soldiers who died in the two World Wars, of all the Italian citizens who must defend Italy's honour, unity and freedom". That was said by the President of the Republic, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, on the occasion of the Festival of the Italian Flag."With its colours, Italy greeted fifty years ago the return of Trieste within our boundaries and paid a tribute to the dead of Nassiryia.

The mayors and teachers of all Italian municipalities, on the occasion of the various local and national holidays, often entrust that flag to the children of our new generations: together with the flag, they entrust them our history and our hope. Italy is an ancient civilization with democratic values on which both our institutions and those of a Europe which managed to overcome the divisions of their different peoples are based. Italy can look back with pride and ahead with serenity". John Hall, 9 January 2005 What do the colors of the Italian flag represent? | Reference.com What do the colors of the Italian flag represent? A: Quick Answer The colors of the Italian flag represent different concepts, depending on the interpretation. In one explanation, the green represents the plains and hills of Italy, the white represents the snow-covered mountains of the Alps and the red represents blood spilled for independence. In another explanation, green symbolizes hope, white is faith and red is charity. These poetic meanings likely were given after the fact, as the modern Italian flag resulted from the historical merging of regional governments. Full Answer The Italian flag is a tricolor flag of three equally sized vertical pales of green, white and red. The color green is at the hoist side.

White is the center band, and the outer stripe is red. The red and white parts of the flag were borrowed from the official colors of the Milanese flag, and the green is said to have been added to represent the region's military. After World War II, the tricolor design used today was adopted as the national flag of Italy at the same time as the adoption of the constitution. The aspect ratio of the Italian flag is 2:3. The colors of the flag were defined and standardized in reference to the Pantone Matching System (PMS). The green used is "Fern Green" (Number 17-6153 TC), the white is "Bright White" (Number 11-0601 TC) and the red is "Flame Scarlet" (Number 18-1662 TC). The Italian Flag 101 The Italian Flag 101 The Italian flag is a rectangular drape, vertically divided into three equal sections: green, white and red.

The three colors of the flag represent, symbolically, the three cardinal virtues: Green Charity THE FLAG OF ITALY The Green, White and Red Tre-Colore Flag first flew at Modena in 1797 as the banner of the Cisalpine Republic. (Located between Parma and Bologna, Modena is in the Province of Emilia-Romagna. It is the home of the Ferrari and Maserati auto works). The new entity began with a brilliant festival in Milano. Its constitution was modeled after that of the French. At that time much of Italy was controlled by the Hapsburgs of Austria – directly and through inter-marriage of the royal families: Milan, Tuscany, portions of Genoa and Piedmont. The Spanish bourbons held Naples and Sicily. The papacy exercised temporal power over the extensive area of central Italy. These were the conditions in 1804 when a Cisalpine deputation went to Paris to solicit Napoleon I to accept the crown of the Kingdom of Italia. In early 1805, when Napoleon I grouped the Northern Italian provinces into one kingdom, he also adopted the Tri-Color Flag.

Arriving in Milano accompanied by Pope Pius VII, on May 26, 1805, Napoleon received the crown of Charlemagne in the Milan Cathedral. Condensing fifteen states into three, Napoleon leveled the barriers of local rivalries and brought a good administration – an approach to political unity. Napoleon's success was short-lived. The Conference at Vienna in 1815 again divided Italy into nine separate states with individual governments. The Austrians still controlled their same territories. Not until the famous patriot, Giuseppe Mazzini, successfully stimulated and organized the uprisings of early 1848 was Italy to throw off the yoke of other nations. The Tri-Color was again proclaimed the national flag in late 1848 when King Carlo Alberto, of Piedmont and Sardinia, led the Nationalist force in his effort to free Italy of outside domination and formed a constitutional monarchy. King Alberto, of the House of Savoia, added the arms of his royal house to the flag. His shield displayed a black eagle. The whole was surrounded by the collar of the Order of the Most Sacred Annunziata, the third highest in rank of all European Orders.

Following his landing in Sicily in 1860, Giuseppe Garibaldi progressively freed most of the country and turned over control to King Vittorio Emmanuele I, the son of King Carlo Alberto. In 1870 when the Prussians invaded France, Napoleon III found it necessary to withdraw his troops from Rome. With Italy totally liberated, Giuseppe Garibaldi carried the Flag as embellished by the late King Alberto. Following the death of his father, King Vittorio Emmanuele II, from his capital in Florence, added a crown above the Arms and Shield on the Flag. Seizing on the opportunity of Napoleon's departure in July 1871, King Vittorio Emmanuele II entered the Eternal City to the tumultuous cheers of the people. In 1872, Rome was made the capital of the Kingdom of Italy. The Arms and Crown were removed from the Flag when Italy became a Republic in June 1946, returning the Flag's design to the simple Tri-Color of Green, White and Red.

Compiled and edited by Joe Tambè Italy This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website Italy image by Ant�nio Martins , 23 April 1999 Flag adopted 19 June 1946, coat of arms adopted 5 May 1948. Official Name: Italian Republic (Repubblica Italiana) Previous name: Kingdom of Italy Capital: Rome Flag adopted : 19 June 1946 Coat of Arms adopted: 5 May 1948 ISO Code: IT Colors of the Flag - Overview There is not an undoubted answer regarding the meaning of the colors of the italian flag . However the most valid hipothesis is the one made by V. Fiorini, the colors came from the colors of the uniforms of the Civic militia of Milan. These were green and white (so people called them "remolazzitt" (small radish)) and some red parts were added on 19 August 1796 when the Militia become the National Guard. In October of the same year the Lombard Legion was constituted, and it adopted an uniform of the same colors and in orders issued the day 9 October (art.

IX), it was stated that "each Cohort will have its National tricolored Lombard standard, differentiated by number, and ornate with the emblems of Liberty". Napoleon himself described the colors : "... the national colors to adopt are the green, the white and the red" (On the message to the Direttorio of 11 October 1796 for the constitution of the Lombard Legion) These standards had the colors vertically displayed with the green at the hoist and they were the very first model of the Tricolore, but only as a military flag. The first true national flag that used the colors horizontally displayed is the Cispadana Republic flag. This flag was adopted on 7 January 1797 and had the red at the top, the white in the middle, charged with the coat of arms, and the green at the bottom. On 17 July 1797 the Cispadana and the Transpadana republics were united as the Cisalpine republic which, on 11 May 1798, officially adopted the Tricolore which is today italian flag (the flag was already in use at least since January 1798).

We can so say that the model of the italian flag came from the french Tricolore, while its colors came from the uniforms, like those of many german States. In 1802 the Cisalpine republic was transformed into the Italian republic and on 20 August a new flag was adopted. The new design was of the kind of the napoleonic military flags: on a red field a white lozenge over which a green rectangle. On March 1805 the republic changed to kingdom and a golden napoleonic eagle was added on the green field of the flag. The Tricolore, charged with the Savoia shield in the center, became in 1848 the national flag of the Kingdom of Sardinia and, in 1861 of the Kingdom of Italy. The State flag and the war ensign included the Savoia crown over the shield. Finally, on 19 June 1946, the plain Tricolore became the flag of the Italian republic. With decree of 9 November 1947, In order to avoid confusion with the mexican flag at sea, two different coat of arms were added to the civil and war ensigns.

Mario Fabretto , 3 October 1997 I found in a Napoleonian Web page the following explanations by Pr. F. Frasca (Universita La Sapienza, Roma): "Albert Pingaud, in his book 'Bonaparte president de la Republique Italienne', proposed three hypotheses for the choice of the green colour: - Bonaparte himself advised or imposed the green colour as the Corsican colour. Later, he used green for his House. - Green was, before the Revolution, the base of the uniforms of the City militia in Milano. - Green was considered as the Italian colour. This appears in an official note, dated 1805, written for the creation of the Order of the Iron Crown. - Green might represent the idea that the vegetation growth is more profuse in Italy than in the Northern countries." (my own translation from French text). Ivan Sache, 21 July 1997 I don't think that there is any official prescription for the colors of the flag. The French Naval flagbook [ pay00 ] include their approximation that is usually reliable enough: green Pantone 340c, red Pantone 485c.

eljko Heimer, 15 June 2001 Translated from the Italian Constitution: "Article 12 - The flag of the Republic is the tricolor Italian: green, white and red, a tri band vertically in equal dimension." Zach Harden, 27 Febuary 2002 Recently the Italian Govern has codified the colours of our flag (circular of the sottosegretario Gianni Letta of 18 Sept. 2002 and circular of the segretario generale Antonio Catrical� of 17 Jan. 2003). The official Pantone codes are: green 18-5642TC white 11-4201TC red 18-1660TC These colours have been determined by a commission of the Poligrafico dello Stato that has made a average of the colours of the flags of the Quirinale (the palace of the President of the Republic), of the Senato (Senate), of the Camera dei Deputati (House of Deputies), of the Presidenza del Consiglio (Presidence of the Council = Govern) and of the Ministry of Defence.

I don't know if they are specialist codes. I've only copied those codes published on the Corriere della Sera (the most important Italian newspaper) when it reported the news about the colours. In the text they say that those codes are "pantoni". The same news are reported in Spanish (but the source is probably the Corriere) at < es.news.yahoo.com >. Guido Abate, 15 and 17 March 2003 After it hit me yesterday that TC mightstand for Textile Colour I contacted a friend of mine who is master of science on the textile technology facuty of the university of Zagreb, and she provided some directions regarding the colours used by Italian flag standard. It goes about PANTONE Textile Color Selector, now obvoiusly system designed for textile dying. The first two digits refer to luminance (if I translate the terms properly), the next two digits (00 though 64) are for hue and last two are for saturation. The colour scheme is avaliable from Pantone as palettes of example colour shades (comercially, and not at all cheap) [so that Faculty afordes to have only 4 sheets].

Anyway, according to my friend, this is an excellent standard for textile colours, but rather subjective. There exists a more objective one for the same purpose, named CIELab. eljko Heimer, 26 March 2003 According to this piece: "The Government codifies the color shades for the first time: bright meadow green, milk white and tomato red." These are not meant to be "new" colors but rather to strictly codify those traditionally percieved as correct. Anto'nio Martins, 26 March 2003 According to "Televideo" slight different italian flag has been displayed in the previous days in front of Montecitorio: green and red were darker then ordinary ones and withe was replaced by a yellowish. Intini (member of Parlament SDI) asked the goverment to refer about this unconventional flag. From < news.bbc.co.uk >: "Italian opposition in flap over flag - Italian opposition leaders have accused Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of tinkering with the national flag, after subtle changes in its colour were introduced. One accused him of a "chromatic coup d'etat".

The row began when observers spotted that a new Italian flag flying outside Mr Berlusconi's Rome office was subtly different from its predecessors. The green, they claim, is deeper, the red has taken on ruby hues, and the white has turned to ivory. Last September the Italian Government set up a team to work out exactly what shades of the three colours should be used on Italian flags. Mr Berlusconi's office, it is thought, may be the first to demonstrate the results. But his political opponents are furious. "It's a veritable chromatic coup d'etat," said Green Party president Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio. The party is so angry it wants a national referendum to allow the public to choose the right shades. Passers-by did not share the sense of outrage. "I don't mind - it looks like my flag," said one man. "It's not ugly even if the red is a little darker." Mr Berlusconi's office accuses his opponents of using the issue to attack the prime minister.

The left was carrying out an unjustified attack when it should be more concerned with national interests, said Mr Berlusconi's spokesman." From < story.news.yahoo.com >: "Italians in revolt at new flag (Thu Apr 24, 9:36 AM ET) - ROME (Reuters) - Few people took notice when the Italian government decided to define last year the exact colours of the "tricolore" -- the green, red and white national flag. But the "makeover" has sparked a revolt in the last couple of days since Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's office started flying the new banner, with a slightly deeper green, a new ruby red and an ivory white. "It's a veritable chromatic coup d'etat," said Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio, president of the Green Party, which has called for a national referendum to decide on the "true colours" of the flag whose history dates back to the 1700s. Opposition leaders say the new version with its "designer colours" is an attack on the traditional flag with its more brassy hues. But most Italians wandering by the prime minister's offices in the centre of Rome shrugged off the facelift.

"It's not ugly even if the red is a little darker," one man said. "I don't mind, it looks like my flag." Albert S Kirsch, Marco Lambruschi, Jan Zrzavy and Dipesh Navsaria, 28 April 2003 Concering these reports and the one reported by Zach Harden from < story.news.yahoo.com >, the Italian flag will remain the same: they said the darker shade was a "technical error" by the flag manufacturer, who misinterpreted the Pantone colour coding decided by the Government. The "chromatic coup d'�tat" caused a lot of quarrels some days ago: (ANSA) - Roma, 29 APR (translated by me) - There could be a parliamentary motion to stop the quarrel abut the colours of the Italian flag. Some members of parliament belonging both to the Olive-Tree (L'Ulivo) and to the House of the Liberties (CdL) coalizations will ask the goverment to re-examine urgently the chromatic codes established in the circular letter which actually changed the national banner.

The government replied that it was a "technical error": the Pantone codes do not correspond to the darker shades of the flags recently shown and so they should be considered erreneous. See < >. So, the colours of the Italian Flag will return the usual ones. Paolo Montanelli, 5 May 2003 Official Use of the Flag, Ensign and Jack The flag is for national, government and military use in land and for government use at sea. For private use at sea there is an ensign similar to the national flag, but carrying a shield on the white strip with the four symbols of the so-called "Sea Republics" (Repubbliche Marinare) of Italian tradition: first quarter Venice (St. Mark's winged lion holding a book), second Genoa (a red-on-white cross), third Amalfi (Maltese white cross on dark blue) and fourth quarter Pisa (peculiar-shaped white cross on red). Navy carries the same flag, but the lion holds a sword instead of a book and the whole shield is crowned. These flags are official since 9th November 1947.

Alessio Bragadini Until the end of WW II, the Italian flag always had the Savoy coat of arms in the center (without the crown: Merchant, with the crown: naval ensign) {so there was no confusion at sea}. After the war, the plain tricolor was adopted as the national flag, but in order to avoid confusion with the Mexican merchant flag, the new Italian coat of arms was placed in the center of the Italian merchant flag (again with no crown.) Nick Artimovich, 16 March 1998 Article 12 - The flag of the Republic is the italian tricolor: green, white and red, in three vertical bands, equal in dimension(s). Zach Harden and Manuel Giorgini, 28 Febuary 2002 There is apparently nothing in Decree No. 1305 of 9 November 1947 (confirming a Decree of the Provisional Government of 18 June 1946) which precludes the Italian tricolour from being hung vertically. However, Italy does not have a gonfalon.

Mello Luchtenberg and Christopher Southworth, 21 Febuary 2003 Popular Use of the Flag In Italy the national flag is rarely used too, but not for "sacreness" of it. We Italian are not much patriotic, consequently we do not use the flag or its colors in everyday's life. The only occasions you can see the green-white-red flag appended outside the not-official buildings are the victories of Italian soccer team ! Giuseppe Bottasini Illegal Use of the Flag ROME (Reuters) - Italian firebrand Umberto Bossi, the leader of the anti-foreigner, anti-European Northern League party, has been handed a 16-month suspended sentence for referring to the Italian flag as toilet paper. A judge in the northern province of Como convicted the 59-year-old politician of contempt on Tuesday and sentenced him to 16 months in prison but also suspended the term, meaning Bossi will not have to go to jail. Bossi's lawyer Matteo Brigandi confirmed the sentence to Reuters on Wednesday and said Bossi would appeal.

At a rally in 1997, Bossi told a woman who was waving the national green, white and red "tricolore" to "put the flag in the toilet," and went on to say: "I've ordered a truckload of tricolore toilet paper to put in the toilet. There's a magistrate who says I can't have it. Come off it!" Bossi, who once wanted to create a separate nation in the north of Italy and call it Padania, is a partner in Italy's incoming center-right government. Now an advocate of devolution, he is on the cards to be made a deputy leader in incoming prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's government and at least two other Northern League members could also be made ministers. Lewis A. Nowitz, 25 May 2001 Umberto Bossi, leader of the Italian political party Lega Nord was sentenced by a court of law for implying that the Italian flag could be used when going to the toilet. The parliament has however revoked this (obviously because of Bossi's parliamentary imunity). Thus, Italian members of parliament can desecrate the country's flag, but ordinary Italians may not.

Source: Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet on 22 December 2001. Elias Granqvist, 23 December 2001 TREMAGLIA REJECTS RECLASSIFICATION OF DEFAMATION OF FLAG (AGI) - Rome, Italy Jan 15 - "The public defamation of a flag as a simple, minor offence? I don't think so..." says Mirko Tremaglia in regards to the possibility of reclassifying this crime as proposed by the Nordio commission to reform the Penal Code. He calls for its withdrawal. The Minister for Italians throughout the world said, "I reject the proposal because the flag is the symbol of the Country.

Its defamation or destruction, precisely because it is the symbol of the Country that represents our history, our soldiers, our lives, cannot be considered a minor offence and must be punished as established in the Penal Code." According to this member of the National Alliance (AN) party, "giving in to this is not compatible with the sentiments, the ideals and the values with which, in particular, Italians throughout the world are united." Tremaglia says that he wishes to also strongly reject the attempt to remove the crime of defamation of the Nation of Italy and of the decisions made by the Head of State.

Tremaglia added, "How can this occur at the time when Italian politics are being celebrated and the President of the Republic cites the Tricolor flag as an instructional tool to educate new generations, and at a time in which reforms are being called for in order to reaffirm the prestige and representation of the Head of State." Phil Nelson, 16 January 2003 Flag Day - January 7th From press release from the Italian Prime Minister's Office: "On January 7 each year, the Italian flag, which was raised in Reggio Emilia over 200 years ago, is celebrated as a symbol of unity and freedom in our country. It is the flag of the "5 days" of Milan, of Garibaldi's mission and wars for independence; the flag of the soldiers who died in the two World Wars, of all the Italian citizens who must defend Italy's honour, unity and freedom". That was said by the President of the Republic, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, on the occasion of the Festival of the Italian Flag."With its colours, Italy greeted fifty years ago the return of Trieste within our boundaries and paid a tribute to the dead of Nassiryia.

The mayors and teachers of all Italian municipalities, on the occasion of the various local and national holidays, often entrust that flag to the children of our new generations: together with the flag, they entrust them our history and our hope. Italy is an ancient civilization with democratic values on which both our institutions and those of a Europe which managed to overcome the divisions of their different peoples are based. Italy can look back with pride and ahead with serenity". John Hall, 9 January 2005 Italy flag, Flag of Italy, meaning colors dimensions and description meaning of colors, dimensions and description Italy Flag flag colors: green,white,red description: The flag of Italy was adopted 1 January 1948 and it has the proportion 2:3. The italian flag is a tricolour of three equally sized vertical pales of green, white and red. The colour green is at the hoist side. The meanings of the three colours of the flag of Italy are that green represents the country's plains and the hills, white, the Alps mountains covered in snow and red represents blood spilt in the Wars of Italian Independence. Another meaning, a more religious interpretation is that green represents hope, white is faith and the red represents charity.

In the Pantone RGB scheme green (Fern Green) is 0-146-70,white described as Bright White is 241-242-24, and red described as Flame Scarlet is 206-43-55. In Hex system green is #009246, white #F1F2F1 and red is #CE2B37.

tags: italian flag,flag of italy Italy Flag colors - Italy Flag meaning history Fern Green (17-6153 TC) RGB(0-146-70); CMYK (100-0-100-45); HSV (149-100-057) Hex (#009246) Bright White (11-0601 TC) RGB(241-242-241); CMYK (0-0-0-0); HSV (120-000-095) Hex (#F1F2F1) Flame Scarlet (18-1662 TC) RGB(206-43-55); CMYK (0-100-100-0); HSV (356-079-081) Hex (#CE2B37) Italy Flag - History The first green-white-red tricolor flew in 1797 as the banner of the Cisalpine Republic.

King Charles Albert of Sardinia made it official flag by the decree of March 23, 1848. King Alberto added his coat of arms to the flag. After Italy was united in 1870, King Vittorio Emmanuele II added a crown above the Arms and a shield to the Flag. On June 19, 1946, when Italy became a Republic, those symbols were removed from the tricolor making it a simple tricolor of green, white and red. Italy Flag - proportion The official proportion of Italian flag is 2:3, while the war flag is squared (proportion of 1:1) Italian flag - Irish flag Italian flag is sometimes mistaken with the Irish flag as both are vertical tricolors. The third band in Italian flag is Flame Scarlet red while it is orange in Irish flag Italy flag - Mexico flag Though Italian flag and the Mexican flag look similar, they have significant differences. Italian tricolor uses lighter shades of green and red compared to Mexican flag. Italian flag's proportion is 2:3, while the Mexican flag's proportion is 4:7.

More importantly, Mexican flag has its coat of arms in the middle white band and Italian flag is simple vertical tricolor. Italy Flag picture/image Ireland This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website Ireland The stripes were found in a different order in the early (pre-independence) days. James Dignan, 14 May 1996 The oldest known reference to the use of the three colours (green, white and orange) as a nationalist emblem dates from September 1830 when tricolour cockades were worn at a meeting held to celebrate the French revolution of that year - a revolution which restored the use of the French tricolour. The colours were also used in the same period for rosettes and badges, and on the banners of trade guilds. There is also one reference to the use of a flag 'striped with orange and green alternately'. However, the earliest attested use of a tricolour flag was in 1848 when it was adopted by the Young Ireland movement under the influence of another French revolution. Speeches made at that time by the Young Ireland leader Thomas Francis Meagher suggest that it was regarded as an innovation and not as the revival of an older flag.

Vincent Morley, 8 January 1997 The Irish television channel RTÉ 1 included the following flag-related item on its main news programme last night. A historian named Dermot Power has established that the tricolour was publicly unveiled by Thomas Francis Meagher, a leader of the Young Ireland movement, at a meeting in his native city of Waterford on 7 March 1848 - exactly 150 years ago today. The report showed the large second-floor window from which he addressed a crowd in the street below and at which the flag was displayed. This discovery pushes back the history of the flag by five weeks: it had previously been thought that it was first displayed by Meagher at a meeting held in Dublin on 15 April 1848. More importantly, the television report stated that Meagher informed the Waterford meeting that the flag was being shown for the first time. No such claim was made at the later Dublin meeting, an omission which had led to speculation that the flag might have been in use for some time before 1848. This possibility now appears to have been excluded.

Vincent Morley, 9 March 1998 The use of the Irish tricolour flag in the period 1922-39 was almost entirely confined to the territory of the Irish Free State. To many, perhaps to most, Irish people it was still 'the Sinn Fein Flag'. From Hayes-McCoy (1979), A History of Irish Flags from Earliest Times It was used unofficially by the government in the Irish Free State, but not with the intention that it should become the national flag: "The government in Ireland have taken over the so called Free State Flag in order to forestall its use by republican element and avoid legislative regulation, to leave them free to adopt a more suitable emblem later." [PRO document DO 117/100 written in 1928] In the event the tricolour was adopted as the national flag, but not until 1937. David Prothero, 1 February 2001 See also: An official document (115 kbyte PDF file) describing the protocol to be observed when displaying the Irish national flag gives Pantone colours for green 347, and orange 151.

Dean McGee, 18 October 2001 This translate to browser safe RGB as: PMS 151 RGB:255-102-0 (#FF6600) PMS 347 RGB:0-153-102 (#009966) (Note: conversion from PMS to RGB depends so much on software and monitor settings, parameters and preferences that almost always such conversion is *not* a loss in color detail.) António Martins-Tuválkin, 18 October 2001 In CMYK values this would be: Green C 100 - M 0 - Y 80 - K 10 Orange C 0 - M 65 - Y 100 - K 0 Ivan Sache, 18 October 2001 and Jesse Kahn, 3 November 2008 Here is the result, with the flag from the top of the page for comparison: image by António Martins-Tuválkin image by Vincent Morley In spite of it being described on an official website, I am not quite satisfied with the green colour.

I think it it looks way too pale, in comparison with other green flags we have. Maybe (just maybe) 0-153-51 would do a bit better? Željko Heimer, 21 October 2001 It certainly would. Apart from its paleness, 0-153-102 is also too far towards the blue end of the spectrum. 0-153-51 looks fine on my monitor, but so does 0-153-0. Vincent Morley, 21 October 2001 The protocol manual for the London 2012 Olympics ( Flags and Anthems Manual London 2012 ) provides recommendations for national flag designs. Each NOC was sent an image of the flag, including the PMS shades, for their approval by LOCOG. Once this was obtained, LOCOG produced a 60 x 90 cm version of the flag for further approval. So, while these specs may not be the official, government, version of each flag, they are certainly what the NOC believed the flag to be.

For Ireland: PMS 347 green, 151 orange. The vertical flag is simply the horizontal version turned 90 degrees clockwise. Ian Sumner, 11 October 2012 Historical colours My question is all about the colours or more specifically the third colour on the flag. The Irish Flag is green, white and ____. However, my father was born in 1915 and spent his formative years growing up in Eire in its formative years and described the colours as green white and gold. From personal recollection the flag I remember was gold. I especially remember the flag outside Colbert station in Limerick with a CIE logo in the middle. Though emblems within the flag are now frowned upon. The only place where I could see a justification for my belief was a friend's book of national team colours where at some point in the 80s it shows the Republic Of Ireland's strip going from green white and gold to green white and orange. More than anything else though when did it change?

Kevin Bourke, 30 August 2012 According to G.A.Hayes-McCoy in ‘A History of Irish Flags from the Earliest Times’ (Academy Press, Dublin, 1979) the third colour was sometimes orange, sometimes yellow and sometimes gold, with orange not becoming the predominant colour until it was adopted by the Defence Forces of the Irish Free State in 1923; “army usage influenced the Irish public and the orange stripe ousted the yellow in the popular use of colours throughout the country.” Even so the third colour was still being desribed as yellow in 1934, ‘National Flags’ by E.H. Baxter, and occasionally yellow in 1939, ‘Flags of the World’ by V.Wheeler-Holohan, who wrote that “the green is for Ireland and the white and orange (or yellow) are the Papal Colours.” David Prothero, 1 September 2012 Meaning of the Colours Officially (i.e. in the national constitution) the colours of the Irish flag have no meaning. However many urban legends have arisen to account for the colours.

Some are presented below: From this webpage : The Green is for the Catholics, the Orange for the Protestants and the white for the peace between them. Every once in a while when you see a green-white-yellow (instead of orange) flag around the country here, that person is basically disagreeing. Heather, 27 April 2003 [Ed. note: green-white-yellow/gold are the colours of Offaly .] From a Government webpage : The green represents the older Gaelic tradition while the orange represents the supporters of William of Orange. The white in the centre signifies a lasting truce between the 'Orange' and the 'Green'. There are a few reason why Green is associated with Catholics in Ireland - Coming from the long struggle for independence. Around the time of the American Revolution, there was anxiety in the ruling classes of Europe; fearing that the ideas of liberty and so on would spread to their own population and spark some kind of revolt. This was very true in Ireland - where resentment to British rule was very strong. Green had always been associated with Ireland as a nation, and with the revolutionary groups within it.

For a while around 1776, the wearing of the colour green was actually barred by the authorities, giving rise to the song of the same name. Green was the colour of sympathy for independence around this time, and has pretty much stuck with that until this day. The modern flag arrives much later, as a compromise flag - Which ironically, today, is used as a symbol for (complete) independence. Jim McBrearty, 29 April 2003 The orange colour is associated with the Protestants in Ulster and that derived from William III (of the House of Orange and originally the Stadtholder of the Netherlands) who defeated the Irish Catholics at the Battle of the Boyne somewhere in the late 1600s. It was included in the Irish flag in an attempt to reconcile the Protestants with the Irish independence movement. A.P. Burgers, 26 May 2004 Flag introduced 13 February 1945 ( Hayes McCoy, 1979 ) Vincent Morley, 2 February 2002 The traditional arms of Ireland have the harp on a blue field.

A gold harp on a green field (as opposed to the blue of the arms) was the traditional Green Flag of Ireland before the tricolour became popular. Roy Stilling, 30 May 1996 The evolution of the heraldic harp can be traced in Irish coinage. The harp first appeared on coins in the reign of Henry VIII. From the reign of Henry VIII to that of Elizabeth I the fore-pillar of the harp was plain. In the coinages of James I and Charles I it had an animal head. The naked female torso first appeared in the coinage of Charles II (appropriately enough perhaps) and was a permanent feature from then until 1822 when the Irish currency was abolished. The harp adopted as the state emblem on the formation of the Irish Free State is a medieval instrument, the Brian Boru harp, which is preserved in Trinity College Dublin. Use of this particular harp is reserved to the state so all private bodies are obliged to use harps of other designs.

Vincent Morley, 27 January 1997 The harp that appears on the presidential standard differs from that shown on conventional representations of the national arms in being less ornate, in not being tilted into the playing position (i.e. it has diagonal rather than vertical strings), and in having only twelve gold strings rather than a larger number of silver strings. The field of the presidential standard is also in a darker shade of blue than the usual field of the national arms, and the ornamentation on the harp is worked in blue thread of the same shade. Vincent Morley, 1 November 1999 Source: The National Flag (click on 'The National Flag') Željko Heimer, 29 January 2002 Arms introduced November 1945 ( Hayes McCoy, 1979 ) Vincent Morley, 2 February 2002 Discussion on the Variants of the Irish Harp The colour of the strings on Irish harps is not consistent.

On the national arms they are white (silver); on the jack and presidential standard they are yellow; on the naval pennant , they were white, as appears from the photograph in Hayes-McCoy (1979) , 'A History of Irish flags from Earliest Times'. These differences reflect the fact that the designs were introduced by independent processes at different times. The relevant dates are: Aer Chor na h-Eireann was established on February 1922 (renamed Oct. 1924). The 1922-1923 roundel was a classic orange-white-green with rudder stripes. In 1923 it was replaced by wing stripes and rudder stripes. In 1939 a "Celtic boss" roundel was adopted of two colors. Cochrane and Elliott, 1998 show the absence of tail insignia as seen also at this site (note the roundel on a white plate as reported above) but this image does show a fin flash. Another change occurred in 1954 added white to the roundel.

Again Cochrane and Elliott, 1998 and also Wheeler 1986 showed no tail insignia while in reality there is a fin flash. See examples here , here , and here . Dov Gutterman, 17 June 2004 I came across , "Mayo plan for national symbol for Travellers". Here are some extracts: "A Mayo traveller is leading a major campaign for a Traveller Flag or symbol for their community. "The work which Bernard Sweeney is currently putting all of his time into and which he is hoping will result in something positive for his community, will be decided in September when the community will vote around the country for the acceptance or disregard of a national symbol for travellers. "A native of Ballinrobe, Bernard has been travelling around the county for the past number of weeks in the hope of convincing his comrades their community should have an overall symbol which he is hoping will be a flag. "The idea has now advanced onto a much broader platform and it has been decided that a vote should be taken within the community on September 15th next on a national level.

"We decided to organise a vote which will take place in September in which people will decide on a symbol, a flag, or nothing at all. The democracy around it is very even handed. It will include travellers all over Ireland aged 15 and over." "He himself is 100% for the idea. "There are flags everywhere. There are town, county, boyscouts, club flags, etc, up to the National flag and it is all part of one's identity. So we are just saying why not have a flag that represents travellers. It would identify us as Irish travellers. "Other ethnic groups around the world all have flags. Personally I think it would be a mark of respect for travellers who have died over the years. For me, we would have it on anti-racism days, celebrations as a badge of pride.

It is nothing more than that and will never take away our Irishness." André Coutanche, 8 August 2005 Colors of Flags This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website Colors of Flags FOTW Topical Index At the International Congress of Vexillology (ICV) held in Victoria, Canada, last year (1999) , I presented a paper (prepared by Theo Stylianides and myself) entitled VEXISTATS - A statistical overview of the colours, symbols and designs of national flags in the 20th Century. This paper dealt with the design, colours and symbols used on flags in 1917, 1939, 1958, 1970 and 1999 and has a number of tables showing use of colours, symbols/emblems etc. and highlighted the trends which emerged over the century. The basic contents of the paper included Colours - number and type of colours; colour by continent, flag area covered by colour; Symbols - type of symbols, symbol by continent; Proportion - proportion, proportion by continent; Design - equal/unequal stripes, cantons, triangles, borders etc.

This paper won the International Association of Flagmakers Award at the ICV for being one of the most interesting and unusual papers presented at the Congress. Bruce Berry, 29 May 2000 Colours The analysis of the number of colours used on flags between 1917 and 1999 reveals that the use of three colours is by far the most popular (Table 1), although this has declined between 1917 and 1999. The use of a single colour is negligible, the only examples being the plain red flag of Muscat and Oman in 1958 and 1970 and the green banner currently used by Libya. The use of bi-coloured flags increased between 1917 and 1939 but has since declined from the peak of 38% in 1939 to 25% currently. While having three colours is the most popular, this has also declined from a high of 61% in 1917 to 45% in 1999.

There was a slight increase from between 1958 (51%) to 1970 (53%), possibly due to the large number of newly independent African countries whose flags use a three-colour combination. The use of more than three colours has increased with four- (23% in 1999), five- (6% in 1999) and even a six-colour flag currently being in use. The increase in the number of colours can be explained by the improvements in flag manufacturing technology together with the cultural preferences of the African, Asian and Caribbean countries which gained independence in the latter half of the century. Table 1 - Percentage of flags with a given number of colours (1917-1999) % of flags with 100 100 Tables 2 and 3 deal with the number of colours by continent in 1999. Table 2 gives the percentage of flags in each continent with a given number of colours and shows that over 70% of African flags contain three or four colours, while nearly 60% of the flags in America are three-coloured.

Asia, by contrast, has almost an equal number of two-, three- and four-coloured flags. Table 3 shows where the numbers of colours on flags are located in the world in 1999. It is interesting to note that the only countries using a single-coloured flag (Libya) - the least number of colours currently used on a national flag - and a six-coloured flag (South Africa) - the most colours on a national flag - are both located in Africa. Table 2 - Percentage of flags in each continent with a given number of colours (1999) % of flags with Table 3 - Percentage of 1, 2, ..., 6 colour flags by continent (1999) % of flags with 7 100 The most popular colour used on flags is red (Table 4). Red has been the most popular colour throughout the century. Although it has declined from appearing on 81% of the flags surveyed in 1917 to 74% in 1999, it is still the most popular colour used on flags today.

White also remains a popular colour and is found in 71% of all flags, slightly down from a high of 77% in 1917. Yellow has shown an overall increase from 26% in 1917 to 43% currently, while the use of blue has declined steadily from 67% at the beginning of the century to 50% today. The use of both black and green has shown constant increases, green showing the most dramatic increase from appearing on 16% of the flags in 1917 to 42% in 1999. The most obvious explanation for this is the use of green in the flags of Africa, and the Islamic countries of the Middle East and Asia. The use of black is also a feature in nearly a third of African flags. The use of other colours remains small, with orange being found on 5% of flags. In 1917 no orange was used, while in 1939 it was found on the flags of Ireland and South Africa.

Today the number of countries using orange on their flag has grown to nine and includes such diverse countries as India, Armenia, C�te d'Ivoire, Ireland, Turkmenistan and the Marshall Islands. Other colours found on flags range from pink on the former flag of Persia in 1917, to brown (Lesotho shield and the tree branch in the flag of Dominica), silver/gray (Malta medal, Vatican keys and in part of the crested crane on the Ugandan flag) and purple (part of the Dominican parrot) in 1999. Maroon is now also found on the flags of Latvia, Qatar, Georgia and Turkmenistan. The point made by Weitman2 that "national flags make use of only seven outstanding colours: red, blue, green, yellow, orange, black and white ..." remains true in 1999.

Table 4 - Percentage of flags containing specific colours (1917-1999) % of flags containing 3 5 The review of the colours by continent in 1999 (Table 5) shows that the most popular colours used on African flags are green (79%), red (75%) and white (55%). White (74%) is the most popular in the Americas, followed by blue and red. White (84%) and red (81%) are also the most popular colours on Asian flags, while red (74%), white (72%) and blue (53%) are the most popular on European flags. White (86%) and blue (79%) predominate in the flags of Oceania. Table 5 - Percentage of flags in each continent containing specific colours (1999) % of flags containing - 5 As indicated earlier, red is the most popular flag being found on 74% of all the flags of the world today, followed by white on 71% of flags and blue on 50%.

It is interesting that these colours are associated with the countries of the Old World (UK, France, Netherlands and Russia) as well as the United States. Yellow is found on 43% of the world's flags, mainly in Africa, South America and Oceania. Green is found on 42%, predominantly in Africa and to a lesser extent in Asia. 22% of flags today contain black, the colour being popular in the flags of Africa and the Caribbean region. Bruce Berry, 31 May 2000 Colour Areas Red is the dominant colour both in terms of the number of flags it appears on as well as the area it occupies. Although blue occupies the second largest area on flags, the second most popular colour on the total number of flags is actually white. It appears, therefore, that white appears on more flags but in smaller amounts while blue is on fewer flags but in larger amounts. Yellow appears on more flags in smaller amounts than green, while green occupies the third largest area appearing on fewer flags than yellow but in larger amounts. Similar observations occur for the other main colours used on flags but the undisputed most popular colour remains red.

Table 8 - Percentage area of all flags covered by specific colors (1917, 1958 and 1999) % of Area Covered by 100 100 The last table shows the percentage flag area covered by a specific colour by continent in 1999. African flags account for most of the yellow, black, green and orange areas at 37%, 36%, 53% and 39% respectively. Most of the blue area is found in America and Europe (26% and 25%, respectively). Asia and Europe account for the bulk of the red area at 29% and 27%, respectively, as well as the white area at 29% and 33%, respectively. Other colours, mainly maroon and dark red, are predominantly a feature of European flags (Georgia and Latvia) at 65% and Asia (Qatar and Turkmenistan) at 30%. 84% of the area occupied by multi-coloured coats of arms is found in America and Europe (42% each).

Bruce Berry, 31 May 2000 Table 3 - Percentage flag area covered by a specific colour by continent (1999) Colour

Question: Which colour is on the left of the three colours on the flag of Italy ?
Answer: GREEN