At One Place

The flag of Italy

The flag of Italy
Three equal vertical bands of green at the hoist, white, and red.
Ratio 2:3 · current design adopted 1946
Italy

The colours were fixed by law only in 2006, and the law names Pantone textile chips — Fern Green 17-6153, Bright White 11-0601 and Flame Scarlet 18-1662 — rather than any digital value. Before that, official flags drifted noticeably in shade, and a 2004 Italian government complaint about supply variation is what prompted the specification. The tricolour dates from the Cispadane Republic of 1797 and was Napoleonic in origin; the green replaced the blue of the French flag, most plausibly because green was the colour of the Milanese civic militia. The republican flag of 1946 differs from the kingdom's only by the removal of the Savoy shield.

Flags it gets confused with

Italy
Mexico

Field and colours only. Not shown: the eagle devouring a snake, centred on the white band.

Ireland

Drawn at each flag’s own official ratio, which is itself the difference in some of these pairs.

Flag How to tell them apart
Mexico Mexico is longer at 4:7, uses a darker green, and carries the eagle-and-serpent coat of arms on the white band.
Ireland Ireland's third band is orange rather than red, and its ratio is a longer 1:2.

What the colours mean

  • Green #008C45 Traditionally the plains and hills; officially "fern green"
  • White #F4F5F0 Traditionally the snow of the Alps; officially "bright white"
  • Red #CD212A Traditionally the blood of the wars of unification; officially "flame scarlet"

Flag laws usually specify a Pantone chip, a CMYK mix or just a colour name. Converting any of those to sRGB is lossy, which is why published hex values disagree.

Ratio
2:3
Current design adopted
1946
Colours
green, white, red

Common questions

What does the flag of Italy look like?
Three equal vertical bands of green at the hoist, white, and red.
What do the colours of the Italy flag mean?
Green: traditionally the plains and hills; officially "fern green". White: traditionally the snow of the Alps; officially "bright white". Red: traditionally the blood of the wars of unification; officially "flame scarlet".
How do you tell the Italy flag from the Mexico one?
Mexico is longer at 4:7, uses a darker green, and carries the eagle-and-serpent coat of arms on the white band.
When was the Italy flag adopted?
The current design dates from 1946, and its official ratio is 2:3.

Related pages

Sources

  1. Official vendor product documentation — At One Place

How these figures are compiled and checked