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Italian historical flags

A brief history of Tricolore
Flags of Napoleonic Age
Duchy of Modena
Other flags
Sources

See also:

Italy
the special site for the bicentennial of the Italian tricolore (in Italian).
Heraldry in pre-unification Italy

A brief history of the flag

1798-1805: Under the Napoleonic rule the Cisalpin Republic (Repubblica Cisalpina) uses the now-known-as Italian flag
1805-1814: The same, but with Royal arms on the white strip
1848-1946: The flag, with the Savoy arms on the white strip is the flag of the Kingdom of Sardinia (Regno di Sardegna, meaning Piedmont and Sardinia), later (1861) Kingdom of Italy
1946-present: The flag is used, without any arms, from the now-born Italian Republic. The flag is used since 19th June 1946, officially since 1st January 1948.

alessio bragadini

Flags of Napoleonic Age

Cispadane Republic (1797)

The very first "Italian" flag (7-JAN-1797). An horizontal tricolour red - white - green with the the republican arms in the middle.
alessandro martinelli 29-JAN-1996

Anconitan Republic (1797)

A horizontal tricolour light blue - yellow - red with the words REPUBBLICA ANCONITANA in the yellow strip. Used till 7-MAR-1798 when Ancona joined the Roman Republic.
alessandro martinelli 29-JAN-1996

Cisalpine Republic (1798)

A vertical tricolour (11-MAY-1798) green - white - red.
alessandro martinelli 29-JAN-1996

Roman Republic (1798)

A vertical tricolour black - white -red
alessandro martinelli 29-JAN-1996

Partenopean Republic (1799)

Vertical tricolour light blue - yellow - red (3-FEB-1799).
alessandro martinelli 29-JAN-1996

Etrurian Kingdom (1801-1807)

by mario fabretto, 11-JUN-1997

Five stripes light blue - white, with the arms in the middle.
alessandro martinelli 29-JAN-1996

Why the fleur-de-lys? I'm assuming from the dates that Etruria was a Napoleonic sattelite state, so I can't imagine they stand for the Bourbons... had the fleur-de-lys come to stand in for "France"?
joshua fruhlinger, 12-JUN-1997

Napoleon established Etruria in 1801 for Louis of Bourbon-Parma (a relative of the Bourbon Spanish king). Louis's son (Charles Louis -- Carlo Luigi in Italian?), inherited the Etrurian throne in 1803. He was removed in 1808 and Napoleon then revived the Grand Duchy of Tuscany to Elisa Bonaparte. I think the territory may have been annexed to France at some time after that[?]. The Encyclopaedia Britannica (an older edition) says that Spain tried and failed to have Etruria restored to Charles Louis at the Congress of Vienna. It looks as though the fleur-de-lys is a Bourbon symbol (though I'm not sure just how Bourbon the Bourbon-Parmas were).
jamie woods, 12-JUN-1997

Italian Republic (1802)

A red field with a white rhombus and a small green square in the middle of the rhombus (20-AUG-1802). In 1805 the Italian Republic became Kingdom of Italy: a golden eagle was added to the flag.
alessandro martinelli 29-JAN-1996

Duchy of Modena

Modena State flag 1830-1859: red-white-red horizontal crossed blue-white-blue vertical, with shield.
mario fabretto, 11-JUN-1997

Other flags

Sardinia Kingdom: pattern blue with central arms or shield
Fiume (Free City): Red-Yellow-Blue horizontal with shield or emblem
Lombard-Venetian Kingdom: green with V-N triangular border, with central eagle
Lucca (1815-47): white with shield or arms (and canton yellow over red)
Massa (1790-1829): white with arms
Massa (1829-?): variant of Modena flag?
Naples 1811: blue bordered Red-White or White-Red, with shield.
Parma 1747-1802: variant of the Dos Sicilias flag?
Parma 1849-1851/59: white with arms (royal standard?)
Piombino (since 1805): white with arms
Venice (since 1797): golden lion in red background? Complet lion or only half?

jaume ollé, 5-JUN-1997

Sources

A. Ziggiotto "Le bandiere degli Stati italiani" on "Armi Antiche" (1970)

A. Ziggiotto "Le bandiere degli Stati italiani pre-unitari" on Vexilla Italica 1, XXIV (1997)

mario fabretto, 11-JUN-1997