image by Graham Bartram
Last modified: 2021-01-01 by rob raeside
Keywords: italy | naval jack | jack | pisa | amalfi | genoa | venice | customs | anchor (black) |
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For private use at sea there is an ensign similar to the
national flag, but carrying a shield on the white strip with the
four symbols of the so-called "Sea Republics" (Repubbliche
Marinare) of Italian tradition: first quarter Venice (St.
Mark's winged lion holding a book), second Genoa (a red-on-white
cross), third Amalfi (Maltese white cross on dark blue) and
fourth quarter Pisa (peculiar-shaped white cross on red).
Navy carries the same flag, but the lion holds a sword instead of
a book and the whole shield is crowned. These flags are official
since 9th November 1947.
Alessio Bragadini
Until the end of WW II, the Italian flag always had the Savoy
coat of arms in the center (without the crown: Merchant, with the
crown: naval ensign) {so there was no confusion at sea}. After
the war, the plain tricolor was adopted as the national flag, but
in order to avoid confusion with the Mexican merchant flag, the
new Italian coat of arms was placed in the center of the Italian
merchant flag (again with no crown.)
Nick Artimovich, 16 March 1998
As far as the usage of the Navy flag versus the private use at
sea is concerned, the lion holding a sword (St. Mark's Lion) have
a book as well, but in this case the book is closed. The reason
for is that in the open book you can read the Latin sentence
"PAX TIBI MARCE EVANGELISTA MEUS" (Peace to you Mark,
my Gospel writer), so in war time the Republic of Venice was not
allowing to read "peace" as the first word. Actually,
the two versions of the Naval Jack are embedding the two
different Venetian flags so maintaining their origin usage.
Fabio Pasello , 15 Septemnber 1999
The present italian coat of arms is never shown either on the
merchant or on naval ensign. The shield you see there is the
italian naval shield (with crown - navy, without crown- merchant
ships). The prsent coat of arms of the Italian republic is the
one described in this page. The one on the
naval flags is made up by joining the 4 shields of the ancient
"repubbliche marinare": Pisa
(whitem "Pisan" cross on red field), Amalfi (white "Amalfi" cross
on blue field), Genoa (red cross on a
white field) and Venice (St.marks
lion with a sword for the navy and a book for the merchant ships,
gold on a blue field).
Antonio De Girolamo, 14 June 2000
image by Graham Bartram
A beautiful photo of the Italian naval ensign (warning : 293
Kb) can be seen at <www.i-2000net.it>.
Dov Gutterman, 31 January 1999
According to Italian Navy site (now defunct) this is the
"Bandiera delle Forze Navali e degli Istituti Militari"
(Ensign of the Navy and (Naval) Military Institutions).
Dov Gutterman and Pier Paolo Lugli, 5 September
2000
The French Naval Album ed. 10, 2017, gives two shades of blue for Italy,
together with specification for red and green, all given as approximations:
dark blue 287c C 100 - M 70 - Y 0 - K 10
blue 300c C 0 - M 90 - Y 86 -
K 0
red C 13 - M 97 - Y 85 - K 3
green C 86 - M 18 - Y 100 -
K 4
The dark blue is used only in the 3rd quarter of the composed coat of
arms in the (naval and civil) ensigns, the jack and the flag of the
Commander of a Naval Force in Wartime (being a "medium"
blue bordered jack, and the only one using two shades of blue simultaneously).
The dark blue is also used as border in the presidential flag. All other listed
flags employ the "medium" blue.
Željko Heimer, 28 March 2018
image by Joe McMillan, 5 November 2003
Italian jack is a square banner of the arms appearing on the
naval ensign. The Amalfi cross was the original cross which was
taken then by the members of the Order of Malta. The reason of
that is that the members of this Order came originally from
Amalfi.
Pascal Vagnat
According to Italian Navy site (now defunct) this is the
"Bandiera di bompresso per le UU.NN. della M.M" (Jack
for the Ships of the Navy).
Dov Gutterman and Pier Paolo Lugli, 5 September
2000
image by Guillermo Aveledo and António
Martins-Tuválkin, 5 July 2009
"Guidone del Naviglio Guradia di Finanza"
Dov Gutterman, 6 August 2000
It is a yellow ~2:3 triangular flag with a black anchor on it.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 5 July 2009
image by Guillermo Aveledo, 10 August 2000
"Guidone del Naviglio dell'Arms dei Carabinieri"
Dov Gutterman, 6 August 2000
Isn't that a Grenadiers pennant?
John Ayer, 8 August 2000
The cap badge of the italian Carabinieri is a flaming grenade.
Roy Stilling, 8 August 2000
The Carabinieri, as the national police force, have a seagoing
arm known as the Servizio Navale Carabinieri, established in 1969
and equipped with 179 craft ranging up to 26 tons.
Source: Jane's Fighting Ships 2000-2001.
Joe McMillan, 11 August 2000
Spanish TV reported yesterday night the security measures
which have been taken in Rome due to the Pope's funeral, showing
images of several police and Carabinieri launches on the Tiber
river. A stern shot of one Carabinieri launch showed very clearly
the Carabinieri pennant hoisted on the left stern, with the war
ensign (Carabinieri are part of the military) on the right stern,
on symmetrical poles. The actual pennant looks brighter
than the image above: regular red, blue and yellow would make our
image more correct.
Santiago Dotor, 7 April 2005
image by Luca Secomand and
Miles Li, 30 October 2018
'Flagmaster', the magazine of the British Flag Institute, has an
article on Italian flags. This article is superbly illustrated by Roberto
Breschi (with those illustrations reproduced with his kind permission), and
shows an ensign for state ships which are not warships - "...di stato in mare (equippaggi
civil)" - and is the national tricolour with the state emblem (approx one-half
the width of the flag high) in its centre. The date of establishment is given as
2003.
Christopher Southworth, 28 October 2011
The Italian State Ensign, adopted by the Law of 24 October 2003, n.321, is
the Italian National Flag defaced with the national emblem, thus identical to
the Proposal for Presidential Standard (1965).
The Italian National Firefighters Corps (Vigili del Fuoco) website has an
excellent article (in Italian, with a close-up photo of two State Ensigns) from
25 May 2009 regarding the legal significance of the State Ensign:
http://www.vigilfuoco.it/aspx/Notizia.aspx?codnews=8130
Miles Li,
30 October 2018
image by Guillermo Aveledo, 18 August 2000
According to Italian Navy site (now defunct) and here,
it is a blue pennant as: "Guidone per lo sport velico della
Marina Militare" (Ensign for Navy ships performing sailinig
sport) with square version
as "Bandiera quadra per lo sport
velico della Marina Militare" ((Flag for Navy ships
performing sailinig sport).
Dov Gutterman and Pier Paolo Lugli, 5 September 2000
image by Guillermo Aveledo, 12 August 2000
"Fiamma Marina Militare". According to "Adria
Bandiera" catalogue. It is manufactured in ratios from long
as 3:400 (15x2000 cm.) to short as 4:35 (8x70 cm.)
Dov Gutterman, 10 August 2000
According to Italian Navy site (now defunct) this is the
"Fiamma per le UU.NN. della M.M." (Streamer for the
Ships of the Navy)
Dov Gutterman and Pier Paolo Lugli, 5 September
2000
image by Miles Li, 30
December 2020
The pennant of the Italian National Firefighters Corps Naval Section "Guidone
del Vigili del Fuoco Sezione Navale"
A photo of the pennant can be found at
https://www.flickr.com/photos/il_congi/5715916060
Miles Li, 4
January 2019
image by Miles Li, 30
December 2020
The Polizia di Stato is the national civilian police force of Italy (as
opposed to the Carabinieri which is a gendarmerie force). The pennants of the
State Police Nautical Squads (Squadre Nautiche della Polizia di Stato) are
crimson, either with a golden fouled anchor towards the hoist (illustrated
here), or with both a golden police eagle towards the hoist and a golden fouled
anchor at the centre. The shades of crimson can vary considerably from brick red
to purple.
Miles Li, 30
December 2020
According to Italian Navy site (now defunct) and here there are other naval flags as follows:
a) "Guidone per il naviglio ausiliario dello Stato"
(Ensign for Auxiliary Ships) (see here)
b) "Guidone per il naviglio addetto al servizio dei
segnalamenti marittimi" (Ensign for ships on charge of sea
signalling) (see here).
Dov Gutterman and Pier Paolo Lugli, 5 September
2000
In a page from an italian dictionary (Il Nuovissimo Melzi,
1952), sent by Alex Belfi, which displays the flags of
all european countries, there is also a Combat Flag (B. Combattimento).
Interesting but it is the Kingdom of
Italy jack . Probably out of date since it doesn't
appear at the Italian navy site.
Dov Gutterman, 4 October 2000
