All 20 Italian regionsfrom Piedmont to Puglia, from Lombardy to Sicily, have their own regional flag with unique characteristics: each one has its own form, colors and any coats of arms or symbols which contain precise historical meanings. In this article we enclose them all, telling them briefly origin And meaning but, first of all, we challenge you to guess them in a quiz ad hoc. Below, in fact, you will find acollage image which contains the 20 regional flags with the removal of any writing that would immediately reveal their affiliation: how many do you know? The right answers are just below: for each flag, you will find some synthetic information and descriptive associated.
Now that we have tested your knowledge and skills, let’s briefly look at the origin and meaning of each regional flag in alphabetical order.
Flag of Abruzzo
The flag of the Abruzzo Region has a red background with a coloured coat of arms in the centre: it is a Samnite shield with three bands (white for the mountains, green for the woods and hills, and blue for the sea of Abruzzo) with in the centre the stylised and golden design of the so-called Capestrano Warrior, a statue over two metres tall found in pieces and then reconstructed inside a necropolis in the Municipality of Capestrano (AQ). Under the coat of arms there is an inscription in Latin, a citation of the Natural History of Pliny the Elder who, regarding the people of Abruzzo, wrote gentium vel fortissimarum Italiae (that is, “of the strongest peoples of Italy”).
Flag of Basilicata
The flag of the Basilicata Region features a silver Samnite shield on a blue background, with four wavy lines in the center similar to waves. Contrary to what one might think at first glance, these lines do not symbolize the sea, but the 4 main rivers of the Region, namely Bradano, Basento, Agri and Sinni.
Flag of Calabria
The flag of the Calabria Region has a blue background with a coat of arms in the center divided into gold and silver segments and containing four specific symbols: a green Corsican pine, a symbolic tree of the Sila plateau, a black cross, which refers to the participation of the Calabrians in the first crusade (1096-1099); a blue Doric capital, emblem of the legacy of ancient Magna Graecia; and finally a black Byzantine cross, another historical legacy of the Region.
Flag of Campania
The flag of the Campania Region is based on the original flag of the ancient Republic of Amalfi, one of the ancient maritime republics. On a white background we find a white Samnite shield with a gold border and a red oblique band in the center.
Flag of Emilia Romagna
The flag of the Emilia-Romagna Region has a white background and a green and white coat of arms in the center, which surmounts a red line and the word “Emilia-Romagna”. The symbol is a stylization of some important elements of the regional territory. In particular, you should focus your attention on the border lines between the white and green colors: the wavy one at the top represents the Po River and the natural soul of the Region; the oblique straight line below, instead, identifies the Via Emilia and, more generally, the human element.
Flag of Friuli Venezia Giulia
The flag of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region has a light blue background in the center of which stands a golden eagle resting its paws and claws on a silver bastion. The whole recalls another flag, namely the ancient banner of the Patriarchal Principality of Aquileia which, from 1077 to 1420, administered Friuli and other territories as a vassal state of the Holy Roman Empire.
Flag of Lazio
The flag of the Lazio Region is one of the most complex and elaborate in Italy. The simplest elements are the blue background and the writing “Regione Lazio” at the bottom of the flag. We then have a coat of arms, surmounted by a golden crown and surrounded by a golden olive branch (on the left) and a golden oak branch on the right. The fulcrum of the coat of arms itself, octagonal in shape and with a tricolour background (reminiscent of the Italian flag), is a cross placed obliquely and with the two crossed axes and framed to form five panels containing as many coats of arms. These are those of the regional provinces: in the centre is that of Rome and around it, starting from the top right and going clockwise, are those of Latina, Viterbo, Rieti and Frosinone.
Flag of Liguria
The flag of the Liguria Region is divided into three bands of green (the mountains of the Region), red (the blood shed by Ligurians throughout history) and blue (the Ligurian Sea). In the center, within the red band, stands a stylized caravel, symbolizing the importance of navigation for the Region. On the sail of the vessel is drawn the flag of the ancient Republic of Genoa (the cross of St. George) accompanied by four silver stars (the four Ligurian provinces: La Spezia, Genoa, Savona and Imperia).
Flag of Lombardy
The flag of the Lombardy Region is one of the simplest: in the center of a bright green background stands a wavy white symbol. It is a stylization of the Camunian rose, one of the graphic signs created by the ancient Camuni people during prehistory and now visible in different versions inside the Archaeological Park of the Rock Engravings of Val Camonica (in the province of Brescia), a World Heritage site sponsored by UNESCO since 1979.
Flag of the Marche
The flag of the Marche Region has a white background with a central coat of arms, bordered in green. Many will have no trouble identifying the letter M, the initial of Marche, made half with a black graphic symbol and the other half thanks to the stylization of a bird: it is the green woodpecker, totem animal of the ancient Italic people of the Piceni, settled in the Region starting from the year 1000 BC and whose name has an etymology that recalls precisely the woodpecker itself.
Flag of Molise
The flag of the Molise Region features a coat of arms on a blue background, represented by a red shield bordered in silver, on which can be seen an eight-pointed star (a historical reference to the coat of arms of the County of Molise, which had a similar one in the centre) and an oblique band (which refers to the coat of arms of the De Moulins family, from which the name Molise itself may have derived), both silver in colour.
Flag of Piedmont
The Flag of the Piedmont Region recalls the colors (blue in particular, and then white and red) and the features of the coat of arms of the House of Savoy and the Kingdom of Savoy. The flag has a blue frame containing a white cross on a red field. At the top of the flag there is a so-called lambello, a symbol of prestige and noble heritage.
Flag of Puglia
The flag of the Puglia Region features the regional coat of arms framed within a reference to the Italian flag (green, white and red). Above a Samnite shield we find a crown, symbol of the glorious times of Frederick II; this is a historical past also evident in the red octagonal shape that surrounds the central olive tree (emblem of the Puglia countryside) and which recalls the plan of Castel Del Monte, a UNESCO heritage site since 1996. Other symbolic elements are the six green dots on a yellow background, each of which represents a province of Puglia: Bari, Foggia, Brindisi, Lecce, Barletta-Andria-Trani, Taranto).
Flag of Sardinia
The flag of the Sardinia Region features the Cross of St. George on a white background, colored red, a very common element on the flags and coats of arms of many states and other European territorial entities (and not only). The main feature of the flag, however, are four Moor’s heads, a symbol taken directly from the Kingdom of Aragon, under which Sardinia ended up during the Middle Ages. Legend has it that the four Moors are four Saracen kings defeated by the Aragonese in northern Spain in the Battle of Alcoraz in 1096.
Flag of Sicily
The flag of the Sicily Region is characterized by two ancient symbols intersected with each other: the Triskelion (or Trinacria), that is a mythological creature with three legs arranged in a spiral, and the Gorgoneion, the Gorgon (or Medusa), that is the head of a female figure with hair made of long snakes. This overlapping of historical symbols (which also recalls the triangular shape of the island) is found at the center of a background divided obliquely in half, colored yellow and red.
Flag of Tuscany
The flag of the Tuscany Region is characterized by a background composed of five horizontal bands of variable and symmetrical size, in white and red, in line with the colors of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and many historical territorial entities of the Region. In the center there is a detailed image of a winged horse, a silver Pegasus. This is a sculpture attributed to Benvenuto Cellini that was also used as a symbol by the Tuscan Committee of National Liberation.
Flag of Trentino Alto Adige
The flag of Trentino Alto Adige has a background with two horizontal bands, white and blue (the two colors in which the coats of arms of the cities of Trento and Bolzano respectively once stood out). In the center we find a shield where two eagles alternate diagonally: the predominantly black one is the ancient eagle of Trento (which therefore represents Trentino), while the predominantly red one is the ancient eagle of Tyrol (which is therefore the emblem of Alto Adige).
Flag of Umbria
The flag of the Umbria Region has a green background and a stylized geometric figure in the center of gray and burgundy, surrounded by white. This coat of arms represents the three candles of the Corsa dei Ceri, an event held every year on May 15 in Gubbio, in the province of Perugia, to commemorate Sant’Ubaldo Baldassini.
Flag of Aosta Valley
The flag of the Aosta Valley Region takes up the colors of the ancient banner of the Duchy of Aosta, removing existing graphic elements (a lion, in particular). It was used, in different forms (for example also with the colored bands horizontally instead of vertically) as an emblem of the Aosta Valley Resistance during the fascist period and partly also of the Aosta Valley independence movement, a movement that contributed to allowing the Aosta Valley to be a Region with a special statute.
Flag of Veneto
The structure of the flag of the Veneto Region is based on that of the ancient Republic of Venice (known as the Serenissima). The main element is the lion of San Marco, symbol of the capital city, set in a landscape that goes from the mountains to the sea (which represents the variety of the Veneto region). On the right, each horizontal fringe contains, in alphabetical order, from bottom to top, the flags of the provincial capitals of the Region (Belluno, Padua, Rovigo, Treviso, Venice, Verona, Vicenza).
