Italy Flag

The red and white colors of this flag were derived from the flag of Milan while the green color was derived from the uniform of a civic guard of Milan. The colors have been translated to mean different things. The green color stands for prosperity, while white represents peace and red is a symbol of sacrifice. Physically, the green color represents the beautiful meadows and hills of Italy, white represents the snowy Alps while red symbolizes the fertile soil of Italy. Spiritually, the red color represents hope and white represents faith while the red color symbolizes charity.

The colours of the flag of Italy each have their own meanings. Green signifies prosperity and the meadows of Italy, white symbolizes peace and the snowy Alps and red stands for sacrifice and red soil.

The first version of the flag of Italy was first created by the Cispadane Republic in 1797. This came after Napoleon’s successful campaign in Italy. The origin of the flag, however, was three years before, when two students of Bologna, Luigi Zamboni and Giovanni Batista De Rolandis, led an uprising against Australian absolutist powers in Bologna. They had chosen a cockade of the Paris revolution as an emblem. To differentiate it with that of France, they swapped blue with green.

Italy has used different flag designs over the years, although the red, white and green colors have always held prominence. Previously, Italy has used the flag as it appears today with the ensign in the center.

This page was last modified on May 1st, 2018

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Published on 2019-11-06


Capital	Rome
Languages	Italian (official), German (parts of Trentino-Alto Adige region are predominantly German speaking), French (small French-speaking minority in Valle d'Aosta region), Slovene (Slovene-speaking minority in the Trieste-Gorizia area)
Ethnic Groups	Italian (includes small clusters of German-, French-, and Slovene-Italians in the north and Albanian-Italians and Greek-Italians in the south)
Religion	Christian 80% (overwhelmingly Roman Catholic with very small groups of Jehovah's Witnesses and Protestants), Muslim (about 800,000 to 1 million), atheist and agnostic 20%
Government	Parliamentary republic
Independance	17 March 1861 (Kingdom of Italy proclaimed; Italy was not finally unified until 1871)
Area	301,340.00 km²
Water Area	7,200.00 km²
Land Area	294,140.00 km²
Population	62,007,540.00 Despite a distinctive pattern with an industrial north and an agrarian south, a fairly even population distribution exists throughout most of the country, with coastal areas, the Po River Valley, and urban centers (particularly Milan, Rome, and Naples), attracting larger and denser populations
Location	Southern Europe, a peninsula extending into the central Mediterranean Sea, northeast of Tunisia
No. Bordering Countries	6
Bordering Countries	Austria 404 km, France 476 km, Holy See (Vatican City) 3.4 km, San Marino 37 km, Slovenia 218 km, Switzerland 698 km
GDP(PPP)	$2,220,000,000,000.00 (USD)
GDP (Per Capita)	$36,300.00 (USD)
Export Partners	Its major export partners are Germany, France, and the United States.
Export Commodities	Its main exports are engineering products, textiles and clothing, and production machinery.
Import Partners	Its major import partners are Germany, France, and China.
Import Commodities	Its major imports include engineering products, chemicals, and transport equipment.
Climate	Predominantly Mediterranean; alpine in far north; hot, dry in south
Terrain	Mostly rugged and mountainous; some plains, coastal lowlands
Learn More	Italy

Italy Flag

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