About Flag Day
Festa del tricolore was made a national day by law no. 671 of 31 December 1996. Flag Day commemorates the first official adoption of the tricolour as a national flag by the Cispadane Republic, a Napoleonic sister republic of Revolutionary France, which took place in Reggio Emilia on 7 January 1797.
The Italian tricolour comes from the standard designed by Napoleon during the Italian campaign of 1796. The colouring was influenced by the French Tricolore, at first appearing in horizontal bands.
The vertical tricolour was introduced in 1798, but was only used until 1814. It was re-introduced when the new Kingdom of Italy was formed in 1861. When the monarchy ended in 1946, the coat of arms of the House of Savoy was removed from the flag.
The present flag was officially adopted in 1948.
