The Tri-coloured standard
The Italian flag was created in Reggio Emilia on 7 January 1797 when, on the proposal of Deputy Giuseppe Compagnoni, the Parliament of the Cispadana Republic decreed universal use of the tri-coloured Cisalpina flag (white, green and red, the revolutionary and Napoleonic colours, also associated over the centuries with many local northern governments). Shortly afterward Napoleon completed his conquest of the peninsula and the many Jacobean republics that he left behind, although eliminated by the short-lived Austrian Restoration, gave decisive impetus to the flag being understood no longer as a dynastic or military standard but as a symbol of the people, of liberty achieved and, therefore, of the nation itself. And so, having been suppressed by the Vienna Congress, the Tricolour came back to wave over the movements of 1831 and after 1848, became the unequivocal symbol for the nation's redemption, accomplished before the first war of independence by Charles Albert of the House of Savoy (although alongside the Savoy family crest), and remaining in use up to the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy on 14 March 1861.
The legislative definition of the national and State flag models dates back to 1925 (the State flag was to fly over the residences of sovereigns, parliamentary buildings, offices and diplomatic representations, adding the royal crown to the family crest). Finally, after the birth of the Republic, the presidential legislative decree of 19 June 1946 established a provisory design for the new flag, which was approved by the Constituent Assembly in a session of 24 March 1947 and inserted into Article 12 of our Constitutional Charter, which reads: "The flag of the Republic is the Italian Tri-colour: green, white and red in vertical bands of equal size".
Brothers of Italy
The national anthem was written in the autumn of 1847 in Genova by Geoffredo Mameli and put to music shortly afterwards in Turin by Genovese musician Michele Novaro. The "Song of the Italians" (as it was originally called) was written on the eve of the war against Austria. The immediacy of its verses and its compelling melody made it a favorite song for unification, not only during the Risorgimento but for decades to come. It is no accident that Giuseppe Verdi, in his 1862 "National Anthems", chose the "Song of the Italians" - and not the Royal March - to symbolise our homeland, placing it on an egual footing with "God Save the Queen" and the "Marseillaise". It was, therefore, almost a natural consequence when, on 12 October 1946, Mameli's anthem became the national anthem of the Italian Republic.
Fratelli d'Italia
L'Italia s'è desta,
dell'elmo di Scipio
S'è cinta la testa.
Dov'è la Vittoria?
Le porga la chioma,
Ché schiava di Roma
Iddio la creò.
Stringiamci a coorte
Siam pronti alla morte
L'Italia chiamò.
Noi siamo da secoli
Calpesti, derisi,
Perché non siam popolo,
Perché siam divisi.
Raccolgaci un'unica
Bandiera, una speme:
Di fonderci insieme
Già l'ora suonò.
Stringiamci a coorte
Siam pronti alla morte
L'Italia chiamò.
Uniamoci, amiamoci,
l'Unione, e l'amore
Rivelano ai Popoli
Le vie del Signore;
Giuriamo far libero
Il suolo natìo:
Uniti per Dio
Chi vincer ci può?
Stringiamci a coorte
Siam pronti alla morte
L'Italia chiamò.
Dall'Alpi a Sicilia
Dovunque è Legnano,
Ogn'uom di Ferruccio
Ha il core, ha la mano,
I bimbi d'Italia
Si chiaman Balilla,
Il suon d'ogni squilla
I Vespri suonò.
Stringiamci a coorte
Siam pronti alla morte
L'Italia chiamò.
Son giunchi che piegano
Le spade vendute:
Già l'Aquila d'Austria
Le penne ha perdute.
Il sangue d'Italia,
Il sangue Polacco,
Bevé, col cosacco,
Ma il cor le bruciò.
Stringiamci a coorte
Siam pronti alla morte
L'Italia chiamò
