Banner o Italy

The Banner o Italy (bandiera d'Italia, aften referred tae in Italian as il Tricolore) is a tricolour featurin three equally sized vertical pales o green, white, an reid, wi the green at the hoist side. Its current form haes been in uise syne 19 Juin 1946 an wis formally adoptit on 1 Januar 1948.

The first entity tae uise the Italian tricolour wis the Repubblica Cispadana (Cispadane Republic) in 1797, efter Napoleon's victorious airmy crossed Italy. Durin this time mony sma republics o Jacobin inspiration supplantit the auncient absolute states an amaist aw, wi variants o colour, uised banners characterised bi three baunds o equal size, clearly inspired bi the French model o 1790. The colours chosen bi the Republic wur reid an white, the colours o the banner o Milan, an green, which wis the colour o the uniform o the Milanese civic guard.

Some hae attributit parteecular values tae the colours, an a common interpretation is that the green represents the kintra's plains an the hills; white, the snaw-capped Alps; an reid, bluid spilt in the Wars o Italian Unthirldom. A mair releegious interpretation is that the green represents hope, the white represents faith, an the reid represents charity; this references the three theological virtues.