Italy Flag

Three equal vertical stripes of green, white, and red form the Italian flag, known as the Il Tricolore. The design closely mirrors France's but rotates the colour order and swaps blue for green.

The official shades are Pantone 347 C (green) and Pantone 186 C (red). The civil and military flags are identical; a version bearing the coat of arms is used by the President.

The Italian tricolour debuted on 7 January 1797 in Reggio Emilia, adopted by the Cispadane Republic — a Napoleonic client state. The colours were inspired by the French Tricolore, with green substituted for blue, possibly reflecting Milanese civic colours or Napoleon's Lombard Legion uniforms.

The flag became the symbol of the Risorgimento — the 19th-century movement for Italian unification. The House of Savoy's shield occupied the centre stripe from 1861 to 1946. After the republic was proclaimed in 1948 the plain tricolour was enshrined in the Constitution.