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Italy - Military Flags

Color of Army Units
Standard of the Navy
Lagunari and San Marco Regiment

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Color of Army Units

by Joe McMillan, 5 November 2003

The color (bandiera di guerra) for army units (other than cavalry) is a square version of the national tricolor in silk, 99 cm x 99 cm. It is mounted on a pike 2.2 m long, made of wood covered with green velvet and decorated with ornate brass nails arranged in a spiral. The pike is topped by a 35 cm high finial consisting of an ornate gilt brass spearhead chased with a five pointed star and the monogram RI (for Repubblica Italiana), which is in turn mounted atop a gilt brass ball on which is the name and date of establishment of the unit. The pike is adorned with two silver cords 67 cm long, each with a 10 cm long silver tassel and a blue silk cravat 8 cm x 66 cm with a 8-cm silver fringe at each end, to which the unit’s decorations are pinned, the ribbons of the decorations overlapping so that the medals hang down the cravat.
Cavalry units carry a standard (stendardo) of the same pattern but 60 cm x 60 cm.
Air force "stormi" (groups) carry the same color (bandiera) as non-cavalry army units
Source: Stato Maggiore dell'Esercito, Ufficio Storico [General Staff of the Army, Historical Office] "Le Bandiere dell'Esercito [The Flags of the Army]" Rome, 1981.
This book notes that the present design of the Italian military color was set by a 1947 order.
Joe McMillan, 5 November 2003

Standard of the Navy

obverse
by Joe McMillan, 5 November 2003

reverse
by Joe McMillan, 5 November 2003

The navy has a distinctive standard (stendardo) which is shown in Galuppini & Gay, Insegne bandiere distintive e stemmi della Marina in Italia (1992). The obverse is a square version of the naval ensign, 78 cm x 78 cm, while the reverse is the design of the naval jack. The standard has gold fringe on the three free sides. It is mounted on a pike 2.15 m long by 32 mm in diameter, topped with a 24 cm bronze finial consisting of a sphere inscribed “Marina Militare” topped with a naval crown. Below the sphere are attached a blue cravat, 1.6 m long by 75 mm wide, with fringe at each end, inscribed with the unit name, tied in the center; a 1.4 m cord with tassels; and, above the standard, a replica of the commissioning pennant of the Marina Militare, 9 cm wide at the hoist and 1.8 meters long. The flag is attached to the pike by four loops built into the fabric of the flag.
Source: Stato Maggiore dell'Esercito, Ufficio Storico [General Staff of the Army, Historical Office] "Le Bandiere dell'Esercito [The Flags of the Army]" Rome, 1981.
Joe