Flag of Italy
Native & traditional name: Il Tricolore
| Flag | Italy (IT) |
|---|---|
| Type | National flag (national, civil, state) |
| Proportion | 2:3 (2:3) |
| Primary colors | green, white, red |
| Main symbol | None (geometric bands) |
| Arrangement | vertical tricolor (green · white · red) |
| Official adoption | 1946-06-19 — Current republican plain tricolor adopted in 1946 and codified in Article 12 of the 1948 Italian Constitution (originating in Cispadane Republic on 1797-01-07) |
| Region | Southern Europe |
Plain-language visual description
Italy's national flag is a 2:3 rectangular vertical tricolor of equal bands of fern green at the hoist, bright white in the center, and scarlet red at the fly.
Construction and geometry
Proportion & symmetry: The Flag of Italy uses a statutory 2:3 height-to-width ratio on a rectangular field with horizontal mirror symmetry. Three equal vertical bands of green (hoist), white, and red.
- Article 12 of the 1948 Italian Constitution sets the layout as three vertical bands of equal dimensions in a 2:3 proportion.
- Prime Ministerial decrees in 2003 and 2006 specified exact Pantone Textile colors: Fern Green (17-6153 TCX), Bright White (11-0601 TCX), and Flame Scarlet (18-1662 TCX).
Official colors and specification system
Rather than manufacturing false RGB precision where a statute specifies dyed cloth, Pantone, Munsell, or CIE coordinates, the table below records the governing color system alongside a calibrated display hex approximation.
| Color | Official shade name | Specification system | Statutory / standard code | Display hex |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| green | Fern Green (Verde felce) | pantone | Pantone 17-6153 TCX | #008C45 |
| white | Bright White (Bianco brillante) | pantone | Pantone 11-0601 TCX | #F4F5F0 |
| red | Scarlet Red (Rosso scarlatto) | pantone | Pantone 18-1662 TCX | #CD212A |
Meaning and symbolism
Documented symbolism
Historically documented in the 1796 Lombardy Legion military standards, green came from the uniform coats of the Milanese civic militia, combined with the white and red municipal colors of Milan and inspired by the layout of the French revolutionary tricolor.
Common interpretations
Popular Italian school tradition interprets green as the plains and hills of Italy, white as the snows of the Alps, and red as the blood spilt in the Wars of Italian Independence, or links the three shades to the theological virtues of hope, faith, and charity.
History and design evolution
The Italian green-white-red tricolor first appeared as a military standard for the Lombard Legion in Milan in October 1796 and was proclaimed the official state flag of the Cispadane Republic in Reggio Emilia on 7 January 1797 on the proposal of deputy Giuseppe Compagnoni—a date still celebrated annually in Italy as Festa del Tricolore.
During the nineteenth-century Risorgimento, the tricolor became the unifying symbol of Italian national unification across separate kingdoms and duchies from Venice to Sicily. In March 1848 King Charles Albert of Piedmont-Sardinia adopted the tricolor defaced with the blue-bordered Savoyard coat of arms on the central white stripe, which became the national flag of the unified Kingdom of Italy in 1861.
Following the June 1946 institutional referendum that abolished the monarchy and established the Italian Republic, the Savoyard shield was removed by presidential decree on 19 June 1946, leaving the clean three-band design enshrined in Article 12 of the 1948 Constitution.
Key historical milestones
- 1797Cispadane Republic adoption: Adopted as a sovereign state flag in Reggio Emilia on 7 January 1797.
- 1861Kingdom of Italy flag: The green-white-red tricolor with the crowned House of Savoy arms becomes the flag of unified Italy.
- 1946Republican plain tricolor: The royal shield is removed in June 1946 and the plain tricolor is codified in the 1948 Constitution.
Frequently confused with
The Flag of Italy is commonly confused with the following national flags due to shared colors, stripe geometry, or central emblems:
Visually and structurally similar flags
Ranked deterministically across layout family (35%), color overlap and stripe order (25%), symbols (20%), aspect ratio (10%), and stripe/symmetry geometry (10%):
Sources and image-rights provenance
- Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri — La Bandiera della Repubblica Italiana
- Constitution of the Italian Republic (1948), Article 12
SVG artwork provenance: Constructed from statutory specifications (public-domain-statute, verified 2026-10-13, SHA-256 44dc429d3740…).