Flags
When the Duchy of Savoy changed its name into Kingdom of Sicily in 1713 and Kingdom of Sardinia in 1723, it maintained its traditional flag depicting a white cross on a red field. But a problem arose: if the Duchy owned the small harbour of Nice only, the union with Sicily and then Sardinia gave to the Kingdom a quite big fleet, which had the same flag of Malta. To disambiguate the ships of the two different States, the House of Savoy added a blue border to its flag, and then it reduced the cross in a single quarter.
The flag had following minor changes until 1848, when a revolution happened: to follow the liberal revolutions which were exploding in all Europe, King Charles Albert adopted the Napoleonic Italian tricolour, surmonted by the Savoyard shield, as national flag. This flag became the flag of Italy until 1946.
-
First original flag
-
Second revised flag
-
Third blue flag
-
Final tricolour flag
Read more about this topic: Kingdom Of Sardinia
Famous quotes containing the word flags:
“No doubt I shall go on writing, stumbling across tundras of unmeaning, planting words like bloody flags in my wake. Loose ends, things unrelated, shifts, nightmare journeys, cities arrived at and left, meetings, desertions, betrayals, all manner of unions, adulteries, triumphs, defeats ... these are the facts.”
—Alexander Trocchi (1925–1983)
“Gentlemen, those confederate flags and our national standard are what has made this union great. In what other country could a man who fought against you be permitted to serve as judge over you, be permitted to run for reelection and bespeak your suffrage on Tuesday next at the poles.”
—Laurence Stallings (1894–1968)
“Still, it is dear defiance now to carry
Fair flags of you above my indignation,”
—Gwendolyn Brooks (b. 1917)