In heraldry , a charge is any emblem or device occupying the field of an escutcheon (shield). That may be a geometric design (sometimes called an ordinary ) or a symbolic representation of a person, animal, plant, object, building, or other device. In French blazon , the ordinaries are called pièces , and other charges are called meubles ("[the] mobile [ones]").
150-521: Tricolour Day ( Italian : Festa del Tricolore ), officially National Flag Day ( Italian : Giornata Nazionale della Bandiera ), is the flag day of Italy . Celebrated on 7 January, it was established by Law 671 on 31 December 1996. It is intended as a celebration, though not a public holiday. The official celebration of the day is held in Reggio Emilia , the city where the Italian tricolour
300-490: A church or a whole town, and cities, towns and Scots burghs often bear a mural crown (a crown in the form of a wall with battlements or turrets) in place of a crown over the shield. Ships of various types often appear; the most frequent being the ancient galley often called, from the Gaelic, a lymphad . Also frequent are anchors and oars . The maunch is a 12th-century lady's sleeve style. Its use in heraldry arose from
450-592: A sister republic of the French First Republic born the previous year. Previously, the Italian national colours had already appeared on the tricolour cockades and on some military banners but on 7 January 1797, for the first time, the Tricolour was officially adopted by an Italian sovereign State. To suggest the adoption of a green, white and red flag was Giuseppe Compagnoni , who for this reason
600-422: A beast is shown; for example, the demi-lion is among the most common forms occurring in heraldic crests. Heads may appear cabossed (also caboshed or caboched ): with the head cleanly separated from the neck so that only the face shows; couped : with the neck cleanly separated from the body so that the whole head and neck are present; or erased : with the neck showing a ragged edge as if forcibly torn from
750-421: A charge appears alone, it is placed with sufficient position and size to occupy the entire field. Common mobile charges include human figures, human parts, animals , animal parts, legendary creatures (or " monsters "), plants and floral designs, inanimate objects, and other devices. The heraldic animals need not exactly resemble the actual creatures. A number of geometric charges are sometimes listed among
900-403: A church. Sometimes it is shown with a key, because Saints Peter and Paul are paired together. Other weapons occur more often in modern than in earlier heraldry. The mace also appears as a weapon, the war mace, in addition to its appearance as a symbol of authority, plain mace. The globus cruciger , also variously called an orb , a royal orb , or a mound (from French monde , Latin mundus ,
1050-507: A crest or even a charge itself may be "charged", such as a pair of eagle wings charged with trefoils (as on the coat of arms of Brandenburg ). It is important to distinguish between the ordinaries and divisions of the field , as they typically follow similar patterns, such as a shield divided "per chevron", as distinct from being charged with a chevron . While thousands of objects found in religion, nature, mythology, or technology have appeared in armory, there are several charges (such as
1200-417: A deer. The griffin combines the head (but with ears), chest, wings and forelegs of the eagle with the hindquarters and legs of a lion. The male griffin lacks wings and his body is scattered with spikes. The bird most frequently found in armory is, by far, the eagle . Eagles in heraldry are predominantly presented with one or two heads, though triple-headed eagles are not unknown, and one eagle appearing in
1350-510: A huge number of civil servants and soldiers recruited from all over the country introduced many more words and idioms from their home languages— ciao is derived from the Venetian word s-cia[v]o ("slave", that is "your servant"), panettone comes from the Lombard word panetton , etc. Only 2.5% of Italy's population could speak the Italian standardized language properly when
1500-621: A larger one). A castle is generally shown as two towers joined by a wall, the doorway often shown secured by a portcullis . The portcullis was used as a canting badge by the House of Tudor ("two-doors"), and has since come to represent the British Parliament. The modern chess-rook would be indistinguishable from a tower; the heraldic chess rook, based on the medieval form of the piece, instead of battlements, has two outward-splayed "horns". Civic and ecclesiastical armory sometimes shows
1650-471: A little over one million people in the United States speak Italian at home. Nevertheless, an Italian language media market does exist in the country. In Canada, Italian is the second most spoken non-official language when varieties of Chinese are not grouped together, with 375,645 claiming Italian as their mother tongue in 2016. Italian immigrants to South America have also brought a presence of
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#17327647607671800-657: A local vernacular. These dialects, as they are commonly referred to, evolved from Vulgar Latin over the course of centuries, unaffected by formal standards and teachings. They are not in any sense "dialects" of standard Italian, which itself started off as one of these local tongues, but sister languages of Italian. Mutual intelligibility with Italian varies widely, as it does with Romance languages in general. The Romance languages of Italy can differ greatly from Italian at all levels ( phonology , morphology , syntax , lexicon , pragmatics ) and are classified typologically as distinct languages. The standard Italian language has
1950-459: A mane and a pointed snout. Dogs of various types, and occasionally of specific breeds, occur more often as crests or supporters than as charges. According to Neubecker, heraldry in the Middle Ages generally distinguished only between pointers, hounds and whippets, when any distinction was made. The unicorn resembles a horse with a single horn, but its hooves are usually cloven like those of
2100-463: A particular religious meaning (as a symbol of Christ sacrificing Himself), and became so popular in heraldry that pelicans rarely exist in heraldry in any other position. Distinction is however observed, between a pelican "vulning herself" (alone, piercing her breast) and "in her piety" (surrounded by and feeding her chicks). The swan is also often seen, and the peacock in heraldry is described as being in its pride . The domestic cock (or rooster )
2250-658: A poetic and literary origin in the works of Tuscan writers of the 12th century, and, although the grammar and core lexicon are basically unchanged from those used in Florence in the 13th century, the modern standard of the language was largely shaped by relatively recent events. However, Romance vernacular as language spoken in the Italian Peninsula has a longer history. In fact, the earliest surviving texts that can definitely be called vernacular (as distinct from its predecessor Vulgar Latin) are legal formulae known as
2400-417: A renewed interest in linguistics in the 16th century, sparked a debate that raged throughout Italy concerning the criteria that should govern the establishment of a modern Italian literary and spoken language. This discussion, known as questione della lingua (i.e., the problem of the language ), ran through the Italian culture until the end of the 19th century, often linked to the political debate on achieving
2550-534: A result of being the dominant charge on the imperial Byzantine , Holy Roman , Austrian and Russian coats of arms, the double eagle gained enduring renown throughout the Western world. Among the present day nations with an eagle charge on their coat of arms are: Albania , Austria , Germany , Montenegro , Poland , Romania , Russia , and Serbia . Additionally, the Double-Headed Eagle of Lagash
2700-575: A result. Starting in late medieval times in much of Europe and the Mediterranean, Latin was replaced as the primary commercial language by languages of Italy, especially Tuscan and Venetian. These varieties were consolidated during the Renaissance with the strength of Italy and the rise of humanism and the arts . Italy came to enjoy increasing artistic prestige within Europe. A mark of
2850-516: A round shield, eventually becoming a heraldic charge. The fasces (not to be confused with the French term for a bar or fess ) is emblematic of the Roman magisterial office and has often been granted to mayors . Keys (taking a form similar to a " skeleton key ") are emblematic of Saint Peter and, by extension, the papacy , and thus frequently appear in ecclesiastical heraldry. Because St. Peter
3000-424: A seven-vowel system, consisting of /a, ɛ, e, i, ɔ, o, u/ , as well as 23 consonants. Compared with most other Romance languages, Italian phonology is conservative, preserving many words nearly unchanged from Vulgar Latin . Some examples: Charge (heraldry) The term charge can also be used as a verb; for example, if an escutcheon depicts three lions , it is said to be charged with three lions ; similarly,
3150-425: A simple charge in undifferenced arms. Its attitude is usually statant (and is never blazoned as such); but it can also be found volant. The pelican is notable as frequently occurring in a peculiar attitude described as in her piety ( i.e. wings raised, piercing her own breast to feed her chicks in the nest, which is how it is actually often blazoned, 'in its piety' being a fairly modern conceit). This symbol carries
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#17327647607673300-479: A single language is that they have evolved so that they are no longer mutually intelligible ; this diagnostic is effective if mutual intelligibility is minimal or absent (e.g. in Romance, Romanian and Portuguese), but it fails in cases such as Spanish-Portuguese or Spanish-Italian, as educated native speakers of either pairing can understand each other well if they choose to do so; however, the level of intelligibility
3450-404: A token of pilgrimage to the shrine of Santiago de Compostela . The sea-lion and sea-horse , like the mermaid , combine the foreparts of a mammal with the tail of a fish, and a dorsal fin in place of the mane. (When the natural seahorse is meant, it is blazoned as a hippocampus .) The sea-dog and sea-wolf are quadrupeds but with scales, webbed feet, and often a flat tail resembling that of
3600-513: A united Italian state. Renaissance scholars divided into three main factions: A fourth faction claimed that the best Italian was the one that the papal court adopted, which was a mixture of the Tuscan and Roman dialects. Eventually, Bembo's ideas prevailed, and the foundation of the Accademia della Crusca in Florence (1582–1583), the official legislative body of the Italian language, led to
3750-468: A wavy form) or nowed (as a figure-eight knot ). Griffins and quadrupedal dragons constantly appear segreant ( i.e. rampant with wings addorsed and elevated) and, together with lions, may appear combatant ( i.e. two of them turned to face each other in the rampant position). Plants are extremely common in heraldry and figure among the earliest charges. The turnip , for instance, makes an early appearance, as does wheat . Trees also appear in heraldry;
3900-469: Is rampant ( i.e. standing on one hind leg with forepaws raised as if to climb or mount - sometimes including an erect member). Beasts also frequently appear walking, passant or, in the case of stags and the occasional unicorn, trippant , and may appear statant (standing), salient or springing (leaping), sejant (seated), couchant or lodged (lying prone with head raised), or occasionally dormant (sleeping). The principal attitude of birds, namely
4050-427: Is 89% with French, 87% with Catalan , 85% with Sardinian , 82% with Spanish, 80% with Portuguese , 78% with Ladin , 77% with Romanian . Estimates may differ according to sources. One study, analyzing the degree of differentiation of Romance languages in comparison to Latin (comparing phonology , inflection , discourse , syntax , vocabulary , and intonation ), estimated that distance between Italian and Latin
4200-691: Is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire . Italian is the least divergent language from Latin , together with Sardinian (meaning that Italian and Sardinian are the most conservative Romance languages). Spoken by about 85 million people, including 67 million native speakers (2024), Italian is an official language in Italy , San Marino , Switzerland ( Ticino and
4350-480: Is a subject of constant disagreement. The remainder are often termed sub-ordinaries , and narrower or smaller versions of the ordinaries are called diminutives . While the term ordinaries is generally recognised, so much dispute may be found among sources regarding which are "honourable" and which are relegated to the category of "sub-ordinaries" that indeed one of the leading authors in the field, Arthur Charles Fox-Davies (1871–1928), wrote at length on what he calls
4500-759: Is also spoken by a minority in Monaco and France, especially in the southeastern part of the country. Italian was the official language in Savoy and in Nice until 1860, when they were both annexed by France under the Treaty of Turin , a development that triggered the " Niçard exodus ", or the emigration of a quarter of the Niçard Italians to Italy, and the Niçard Vespers . Giuseppe Garibaldi complained about
4650-488: Is always shown slipped (i.e. with a stem), unless blazoned otherwise. The cinquefoil is sometimes blazoned fraise (strawberry flower), most notably when canting for Fraser. The trillium flower occurs occasionally in a Canadian context, and the protea flower constantly appears in South Africa, since it is the national flower symbol. Wheat constantly occurs in the form of "garbs" or sheaves and in fields (e.g. in
Tricolour Day - Misplaced Pages Continue
4800-645: Is carried out only on three other occasions, during the celebrations of the Anniversary of the Unification of Italy (17 March), of the Festa della Repubblica (2 June) and of the National Unity and Armed Forces Day (4 November). Italian language Italian ( italiano , pronounced [itaˈljaːno] , or lingua italiana , pronounced [ˈliŋɡwa itaˈljaːna] )
4950-468: Is exceedingly common in Hungarian arms. Natural mountains and boulders are not unknown, though ranges of mountains are differently shown. An example is the arms of Edinburgh , portraying Edinburgh Castle atop Castle Rock . Volcanos are shown, almost without exception, as erupting, and the eruption is generally quite stylised. In the 18th century, landscapes began to appear in armory, often depicting
5100-534: Is higher than that between Sardinian and Latin. In particular, its vowels are the second-closest to Latin after Sardinian . As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive. Italian is the official language of Italy and San Marino and is spoken fluently by the majority of the countries' populations. Italian is the third most spoken language in Switzerland (after German and French; see Swiss Italian ), although its use there has moderately declined since
5250-643: Is known as the "Father of the Tricolour". In the minutes of the meeting of 7 January 1797 which was convened by the founding committee of the Cispadane Republic and which took place in a room of the town hall later renamed Sala del Tricolore , it can be read: [...] From the minutes of the XIV Session of the Cispadan Congress: Reggio Emilia, 7 January 1797, 11 am. Patriotic Hall . The participants are 100, deputies of
5400-460: Is markedly lower between Italian-Spanish, and considerably higher between the Iberian sister languages of Portuguese-Spanish. Speakers of this latter pair can communicate with one another with remarkable ease, each speaking to the other in his own native language without slang/jargon. Nevertheless, on the basis of accumulated differences in morphology, syntax, phonology, and to some extent lexicon, it
5550-504: Is neither a co-official nor a protected language in these countries. Some speakers of Italian are native bilinguals of both Italian (either in its standard form or regional varieties ) and a local language of Italy , most frequently the language spoken at home in their place of origin. Italian is a major language in Europe, being one of the official languages of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and one of
5700-462: Is not difficult to identify that for the Romance varieties of Italy, the first extant written evidence of languages that can no longer be considered Latin comes from the ninth and tenth centuries C.E. These written sources demonstrate certain vernacular characteristics and sometimes explicitly mention the use of the vernacular in Italy. Full literary manifestations of the vernacular began to surface around
5850-410: Is rarely used for a similar treatment. In Portuguese heraldry, but rarely in other countries, trees are sometimes found decorticated . The most famous heraldic flower (particularly in French heraldry) is the fleur-de-lis , which is often stated to be a stylised lily, though despite the name there is considerable debate on this. The "natural" lily , somewhat stylised, also occurs, as (together with
6000-490: Is said to more often termed a " mullet of five points pierced" by English heralds. Crowns and coronets of various kinds are constantly seen. The ecclesiastical hat and bishop's mitre are nearly ubiquitous in ecclesiastical heraldry . The sword is sometimes a symbol of authority, as in the royal arms of the Netherlands , but may also allude to Saint Paul , as the patron of a town (e.g. London ) or dedicatee of
6150-440: Is sometimes called dunghill cock to distinguish it from the game cock which has a cut comb and exaggerated spurs, and the moor cock , which is the farmyard cock with a game bird's tail. Other birds occur less frequently. The category of sea creatures may be seen to include various fish, a highly stylized "dolphin", and various fanciful creatures, sea monsters, which are shown as half-fish and half-beast, as well as mermaids and
Tricolour Day - Misplaced Pages Continue
6300-422: Is the inescutcheon, the seventh is the chevron, the eighth is the saltire, and the ninth is the bar, while stating that "some writers" prefer the bordure as the ninth ordinary. Volborth, having decidedly less to say on the matter, agrees that the classifications are arbitrary and the subject of disagreement, and lists the "definite" ordinaries as the chief, pale, bend, fess, chevron, cross and saltire. Boutell lists
6450-648: Is the main working language of the Holy See , serving as the lingua franca (common language) in the Roman Catholic hierarchy as well as the official language of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta . Italian has a significant use in musical terminology and opera with numerous Italian words referring to music that have become international terms taken into various languages worldwide. Almost all native Italian words end with vowels , and
6600-902: Is the patron saint of fishermen, keys also notably appear in the arms of the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers . The sun is a disc with twelve or more wavy rays, or alternating wavy and straight rays, often represented " in his splendour " ( i.e. with a face). The moon "in her plenitude" (full) sometimes appears, distinguished from a roundel argent by having a face; but crescents occur much more frequently. Estoiles are stars with six wavy rays, while stars (when they occur under that name) have straight rays usually numbering five in British and North American heraldry and six in continental European heraldry. Clouds often occur, though more frequently for people or animals to stand on or issue from than as isolated charges. The raindrop as such
6750-401: Is typically shown as a simple lizard surrounded by flames. Also notably occurring (undoubtedly owing much of its fame to Napoleon , though it also appears in much earlier heraldry) is the bee . Animals' heads are also very frequent charges, as are the paw or leg ( gamb ) of the lion, the wing (often paired) of the eagle, and the antlers ( attire ) of the stag. Sometimes only the top half of
6900-447: Is unknown, though drops of fluid ( goutte ) is known. These occasionally appear as a charge, but more frequently constitute a field semé (known as goutté ). The snowflake occurs in modern heraldry, sometimes blazoned as a "snow crystal" or "ice crystal". The oldest geological charge is the mount , typically a green hilltop rising from the lower edge of the field, providing a place for a beast, building or tree to stand. This feature
7050-718: Is used as an emblem by the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry . There are many meanings attached to this symbol, and it was introduced in France in the early 1760s as the emblem of the Knight Kadosh degree. The martlet , a stylized swift or swallow without feet (sometimes incorrectly, at least in the Anglophone heraldries these days, said to have no beak), is a mark of cadency in English heraldry, but also appears as
7200-549: Is used, and the town of Chipilo near Puebla, Mexico; each continues to use a derived form of Venetian dating back to the 19th century. Other examples are Cocoliche , an Italian–Spanish pidgin once spoken in Argentina and especially in Buenos Aires , and Lunfardo . The Rioplatense Spanish dialect of Argentina and Uruguay today has thus been heavily influenced by both standard Italian and Italian regional languages as
7350-509: The Il Globo (Australia) and the La gazzetta del Sud Africa (South Africa). Italian is widely taught in many schools around the world, but rarely as the first foreign language. In the 21st century, technology also allows for the continual spread of the Italian language, as people have new ways to learn how to speak, read, and write languages at their own pace and at any given time. For example,
7500-991: The La Voce del Popolo ( Croatia ), the Corriere d'Italia (Germany), the L'italoeuropeo (United Kingdom), the Passaparola ( Luxembourg ), the America Oggi (United States), the Corriere Canadese and the Corriere Italiano (Canada), the Il punto d'incontro (Mexico), the L'Italia del Popolo ( Argentina ), the Fanfulla (Brazil), the Gente d'Italia ( Uruguay ), the La Voce d'Italia ( Venezuela ),
7650-540: The Black Madonna in the arms of Marija Bistrica , Croatia . Moors—or more frequently their heads, often crowned—appear with some frequency in medieval European heraldry. They are also sometimes called moore , blackmoor or negro . Moors appear in European heraldry from at least as early as the 13th century, and some have been attested as early as the 11th century in Italy , where they have persisted in
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#17327647607677800-730: The Cisalpine Republic , whose Grand Council, on 11 May 1798, adopted a tricolour flag in vertical bands with no crests, emblems or letters. The flag of the Cisalpine Republic was maintained until 1802, when it was renamed the Napoleonic Italian Republic (1802–1805), and a new flag was adopted, this time with a red field carrying a green square within a white lozenge ; the Presidential Standard of Italy in use since 14 October 2000
7950-474: The Codex Manesse has its wing bones fashioned into additional heads. Eagles and their wings also feature prominently as crests. Eagles most frequently appear full-bodied, with one head, in numerous positions including displayed , statant , passant and rising . The demi-eagle , which is shown only from the waist up, occurs less frequently. Double-headed eagles almost always appear displayed . As
8100-798: The Constituent Assembly , which decreed the insertion of article 12 of the Italian Constitution , subsequently ratified by the Italian Parliament , which states: The flag of the Republic is the Italian tricolour: green, white, and red, in three vertical bands of equal dimensions. The members of the Constituent Assembly were deeply moved when they approved this article, and as a sign of joy and respect, stood up and applauded at length shortly after
8250-642: The Gallo-Italic linguistic panorama of Northern Italy , the Italo-Dalmatian , Neapolitan and its related dialects were largely unaffected by the Franco- Occitan influences introduced to Italy mainly by bards from France during the Middle Ages, but after the Norman conquest of southern Italy , Sicily became the first Italian land to adopt Occitan lyric moods (and words) in poetry. Even in
8400-852: The Grisons ), Corsica , and Vatican City . It has official minority status in Croatia , Slovenian Istria , and the municipalities of Santa Tereza and Encantado in Brazil . Italian is also spoken by large immigrant and expatriate communities in the Americas and Australia . Italian is included under the languages covered by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Romania , although Italian
8550-619: The Kingdom of Italy in the Dodecanese ). Italian is widely spoken in Malta , where nearly two-thirds of the population can speak it fluently (see Maltese Italian ). Italian served as Malta's official language until 1934, when it was abolished by the British colonial administration amid strong local opposition. Italian language in Slovenia is an officially recognized minority language in
8700-773: The Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia ), although the masses kept speaking primarily their local vernaculars. Italian was also one of the many recognised languages in the Austro-Hungarian Empire . Italy has always had a distinctive dialect for each city because the cities, until recently, were thought of as city-states . Those dialects now have considerable variety . As Tuscan-derived Italian came to be used throughout Italy, features of local speech were naturally adopted, producing various versions of Regional Italian . The most characteristic differences, for instance, between Roman Italian and Milanese Italian are syntactic gemination of initial consonants in some contexts and
8850-423: The Placiti Cassinesi from the province of Benevento that date from 960 to 963, although the Veronese Riddle , probably from the 8th or early 9th century, contains a late form of Vulgar Latin that can be seen as a very early sample of a vernacular dialect of Italy. The Commodilla catacomb inscription is also a similar case. The Italian language has progressed through a long and slow process, which started after
9000-404: The Second Italian War of Independence , the Expedition of the Thousand and the Third Italian War of Independence . With the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy , the green, white and red flag became the national flag of a united Italy. The Tricolour had a universal, transversal meaning, shared by both monarchists and republicans , progressives and conservatives and Guelphs as well as by
9150-554: The United States Air Force with charges blazoned as "mythical", or beasts as "chimerical", but those conceptions are meaningless and irrelevant to the conception of heraldry, and it does not affect the appearance of those charges. Unlike mobile charges , the ordinary charges reach to the edge of the field. Some heraldic writers distinguish, albeit arbitrarily, between (honourable) ordinaries and sub-ordinaries . While some authors hold that only nine charges are "honourable" ordinaries, exactly which ones fit into this category
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#17327647607679300-406: The Western Roman Empire's fall in the 5th century. The language that came to be thought of as Italian developed in central Tuscany and was first formalized in the early 14th century through the works of Tuscan writer Dante Alighieri , written in his native Florentine . Dante's epic poems, known collectively as the Commedia , to which another Tuscan poet Giovanni Boccaccio later affixed
9450-520: The arms of Pope Benedict XVI feature a moor's head, crowned and collared red. Nevertheless, the use of moors (and particularly their heads) as a heraldic symbol has been deprecated in modern North America, where racial stereotypes have been influenced by a history of Trans-Atlantic slave trade and racial segregation, and applicants to the College of Arms of the Society for Creative Anachronism are urged to use them delicately to avoid creating offensive images. Parts of human bodies occur more often than
9600-411: The beaver . Reptiles and invertebrates occurring in heraldry include serpents, lizards, salamanders and others, but the most frequently occurring of these are various forms of dragons. The " dragon ", thus termed, is a large monstrous reptile with, often, a forked or barbed tongue, membraned wings like a bat's, and four legs. The wyvern and lindworm are dragons with only two legs. The salamander
9750-408: The fess ), and chevronels . In addition to those mentioned in the above section, the following are variously called "honourable ordinaries" by different authors, while others of these are often called sub-ordinaries . The so-called mobile charges (or sometimes common charges ) are not tied to the size and shape of the shield, and so may be placed in any part of the field, although whenever
9900-477: The rampant position; while birds, particularly the eagle, most often appear displayed . While the lion, regarded as the king of beasts, is by far the most frequently occurring beast in heraldry, the eagle, equally regarded as the king of birds, is overwhelmingly the most frequently occurring bird, and the rivalry between these two is often noted to parallel with the political rivalry between the powers they came to represent in medieval Europe. Neubecker notes that "in
10050-519: The "utter absurdity of the necessity for any [such] classification at all", stating that the ordinaries and sub-ordinaries are, in his mind, "no more than first charges". Apparently ceding the point for the moment, Fox-Davies lists the generally agreed-upon "honourable ordinaries" as the bend, fess, pale, pile, chevron, cross, saltire, and chief. Woodcock sheds some light on the matter, stating that earlier writers such as Leigh, Holme and Guillim proposed that "honourable ordinaries" should occupy one-third of
10200-421: The 'flag-raising on the notes of Il Canto degli Italiani and which renders military honors a reproduction of the flag of the Cispadane Republic. In Rome, at the Quirinal Palace , the ceremonial foresees instead the change of the Guard of honour in solemn form with the deployment and the parade of the Corazzieri Regiment in gala uniform and the Fanfare of the Carabinieri Cavalry Regiment . This solemn rite
10350-406: The 111 Italian lecturer sections belonging to foreign schools where Italian is taught as a language of culture. As of 2022, Australia had the highest number of students learning Italian in the world. This occurred because of support by the Italian community in Australia and the Italian Government and also because of successful educational reform efforts led by local governments in Australia. From
10500-458: The 13th century in the form of various religious texts and poetry. Although these are the first written records of Italian varieties separate from Latin, the spoken language had probably diverged long before the first written records appeared since those who were literate generally wrote in Latin even if they spoke other Romance varieties in person. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the use of Standard Italian became increasingly widespread and
10650-438: The 1970s. It is official both on the national level and on regional level in two cantons : Ticino and Grisons . In the latter canton, however, it is only spoken by a small minority, in the Italian Grisons . Ticino, which includes Lugano , the largest Italian-speaking city outside Italy, is the only canton where Italian is predominant. Italian is also used in administration and official documents in Vatican City . Italian
10800-651: The Counts Colleoni of Milan bear arms blazoned: "Per pale argent and gules, three hearts reversed counterchanged;" but in less delicate times these were read as canting arms showing three pairs of testicles ( coglioni = "testicles" in Italian). The community of Cölbe in Hesse has a coat of arms with a similar charge. Animals, especially lions and eagles, feature prominently as heraldic charges. Some differences may be observed between an animal's natural form and
10950-656: The Ghibellines . The Tricolour was chosen as the flag of a united Italy also for this reason. On 13 June 1946, the Italian Republic was officially founded . The Italian flag was modified with the decree of the President of the Council of Ministers No. 1 of 19 June 1946. Compared to the monarchic banner, the Savoy coat of arms was eliminated. This decision was later confirmed in the session of 24 March 1947 by
11100-417: The Italian dialects has declined in the modern era , as Italy unified under Standard Italian and continues to do so aided by mass media from newspapers to radio to television, diglossia is still frequently encountered in Italy and triglossia is not uncommon in emigrant communities among older speakers. Both situations normally involve some degree of code-switching and code-mixing . Notes: Italian has
11250-489: The Italian language into a lingua franca used not only among clerks, nobility, and functionaries in the Italian courts but also by the bourgeoisie . Italian literature's first modern novel, I promessi sposi ( The Betrothed ) by Alessandro Manzoni , further defined the standard by "rinsing" his Milanese "in the waters of the Arno " ( Florence 's river), as he states in the preface to his 1840 edition. After unification,
11400-497: The Italian tricolour went underground, becoming the symbol of the patriotic ferments that began to spread in Italy and the symbol which united all the efforts of the Italian people towards freedom and independence. In the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia , a state dependent on the Austrian Empire born after the fall of Napoleon, those who exhibited the Italian tricolour were subject to the death penalty . The Austrians' objective
11550-510: The Lion of the House of Welf ." The beast most often portrayed in heraldry is the lion . When posed passant guardant (walking and facing the viewer), he is called a léopard in French blazon . Other beasts frequently seen include the wolf , bear , boar , horse , bull or ox , and stag or hart. The tiger (unless blazoned as a Bengal tiger ) is a fanciful beast with a wolflike body,
11700-556: The Mediterranean. The increasing political and cultural relevance of Florence during the periods of the rise of the Medici Bank , humanism , and the Renaissance made its dialect, or rather a refined version of it, a standard in the arts. The Renaissance era, known as il Rinascimento in Italian, was seen as a time of rebirth, which is the literal meaning of both renaissance (from French) and rinascimento (Italian). During this time, long-existing beliefs stemming from
11850-494: The Tricolour was confirmed. The flag of the Cispadane Republic was in horizontal bands with the top red, the white in the center and the green at the bottom. In the center was also the emblem of the republic, while on the sides the letters "R" and "C" were shown, the initials of the two words that form the name of the " Repubblica Cispadana ". The Cispadane and Transpadana republics merged a few months later to form
12000-511: The approval. On 31 December 1996, with the same law that established the Tricolour Festival, a National Committee of twenty members was set up with the aim of organizing the first solemn commemoration of the birth of the Italian flag. The committee was composed of institutional personalities, including the presidents of the chambers , and members from civil society, particularly from the historical and cultural sphere. At that time it
12150-414: The arms of Arkhangelsk . The Devil or a demon is occasionally seen, being defeated by the archangel Saint Michael . Though the taboo is not invariably respected, British heraldry in particular, and to a greater or lesser extent the heraldry of other countries, frowns on depictions of God or Christ , though an exception may be in the not-uncommon Continental depictions of Madonna and Child , including
12300-425: The arms of the province of Alberta , Canada), though less often as ears, which are shown unwhiskered (though some varieties of wheat are naturally whiskered). Ears of rye are depicted exactly as wheat, except the ears droop down and are often whiskered, e.g. in the arms of the former Ruislip-Northwood Urban District . Barley , cannabis , maize , and oats also occur. The "garb" in the arms of Gustav Vasa (and in
12450-412: The body. While cabossed heads are shown facing forward ( affronté ), heads that are couped or erased face dexter unless otherwise specified for differencing. Heads of horned beasts are often shown cabossed to display the horns, but instances can be found in any of these circumstances. A lion's head cabossed is called simply a face , and a fox's head cabossed, a mask . The attitude , or position, of
12600-444: The case of Northern Italian languages, however, scholars are careful not to overstate the effects of outsiders on the natural indigenous developments of the languages. The economic might and relatively advanced development of Tuscany at the time ( Late Middle Ages ) gave its language weight, although Venetian remained widespread in medieval Italian commercial life, and Ligurian (or Genoese) remained in use in maritime trade alongside
12750-452: The center. Certain features of an animal are often of a contrasting tincture. The charge is then said to be armed (claws and horns and tusks), langued (tongue), vilené or pizzled (penis), attired (antlers or very occasionally horns), unguled (hooves), crined (horse's mane or human hair) of a specified tincture. Many attitudes have developed from the herald's imagination and ever-increasing need for differentiation, but only
12900-428: The chief, pale, bend, bend sinister, fess, bar, cross, saltire and chevron as the "honourable ordinaries". Thus, the chief, bend, pale, fess, chevron, cross and saltire appear to be the undisputed ordinaries, while authors disagree over the status of the pile, bar, inescutcheon, bordure and others. Several different figures are recognised as honourable ordinaries , each normally occupying about one-fifth to one-third of
13050-430: The coat of arms of Sweden) is not a wheatsheaf, although it was pictured in that way from the 16th to 19th century; rather, this "vasa" is a bundle but of unknown sort. Very few inanimate objects in heraldry carry a special significance distinct from that of the object itself, but among such objects are the escarbuncle , the fasces , and the key . The escarbuncle developed from the radiating iron bands used to strengthen
13200-653: The colonial period. In the early 19th century, Eritrea was the country with the highest number of Italians abroad, and the Italian Eritreans grew from 4,000 during World War I to nearly 100,000 at the beginning of World War II. In Asmara there are two Italian schools, the Italian School of Asmara (Italian primary school with a Montessori department) and the Liceo Sperimentale "G. Marconi" (Italian international senior high school). Italian
13350-443: The conventional attitudes (positions) into which heraldic animals are contorted; additionally, various parts of an animal (claws, horns, tongue, etc.) may be differently coloured, each with its own terminology. Most animals are broadly classified, according to their natural form, into beasts, birds, sea creatures and others, and the attitudes that apply to them may be grouped accordingly. Beasts, particularly lions, most often appear in
13500-573: The country (some 0.42% of the total population). Their numbers dropped dramatically after World War II following the Istrian–Dalmatian exodus , which caused the emigration of between 230,000 and 350,000 Istrian Italians and Dalmatian Italians. Italian was the official language of the Republic of Ragusa from 1492 to 1807. It formerly had official status in Albania due to the annexation of
13650-518: The country to the Kingdom of Italy (1939–1943). Albania has a large population of non-native speakers, with over half of the population having some knowledge of the Italian language. The Albanian government has pushed to make Italian a compulsory second language in schools. The Italian language is well-known and studied in Albania, due to its historical ties and geographical proximity to Italy and to
13800-446: The country. A few hundred Italian settlers returned to Libya in the 2000s. Italian was the official language of Eritrea during Italian colonisation . Italian is today used in commerce, and it is still spoken especially among elders; besides that, Italian words are incorporated as loan words in the main language spoken in the country (Tigrinya). The capital city of Eritrea, Asmara , still has several Italian schools, established during
13950-525: The country. The official census, carried out in 2002, reported 2,258 ethnic Italians ( Istrian Italians ) in Slovenia (0.11% of the total population). Italian language in Croatia is an official minority language in the country, with many schools and public announcements published in both languages. The 2001 census in Croatia reported 19,636 ethnic Italians (Istrian Italians and Dalmatian Italians ) in
14100-401: The creature's body is usually explicitly stated in English blazon. When such description is omitted, a lion can be assumed to be rampant , a leopard or herbivore passant . By default, the charge faces dexter (left as seen by the viewer); this would be forward on a shield worn on the left arm. In German armory, animate charges in the dexter half of a composite display are usually turned to face
14250-547: The cross, the eagle, and the lion) which have contributed to the distinctive flavour of heraldic design. Only these and a few other notable charges (crowns, stars, keys, etc.) are discussed in this article. In addition to being shown in the regular way, charges may be blazoned as umbrated (shadowed), detailed , (rather incorrectly) outlined , highly unusually shaded and rather irregularly in silhouette or, more ambiguously, confusingly, and unhelpfully, futuristic , stylized or simplified . There are also several units in
14400-414: The custom of the knights who attended tournaments wearing their ladies sleeves, as "gages d'amour" (tokens of love). This fashion of sleeve would later evolve into Tippet -style stoles. In French blazon this charge is sometimes informally referred to as manche mal taillée (a sleeve badly cut). Spurs also occur, sometimes "winged", but more frequently occurring is the spur-rowel or spur-revel , which
14550-464: The design and fashion industries, in some sports such as football and especially in culinary terms. In Italy, almost all the other languages spoken as the vernacular —other than standard Italian and some languages spoken among immigrant communities—are often called " Italian dialects ", a label that can be very misleading if it is understood to mean "dialects of Italian". The Romance dialects of Italy are local evolutions of spoken Latin that pre-date
14700-534: The diffusion of Italian television in the country. Due to heavy Italian influence during the Italian colonial period , Italian is still understood by some in former colonies such as Libya. Although it was the primary language in Libya since colonial rule , Italian greatly declined under the rule of Muammar Gaddafi , who expelled the Italian Libyan population and made Arabic the sole official language of
14850-678: The eagle, is displayed ( i.e. facing the viewer with the head turned toward dexter and wings raised and upturned to show the full underside of both wings). Birds also appear rising or rousant ( i.e. wings raised and head upturned as if about to take flight), volant (flying), statant (standing, with wings raised), close (at rest with wings folded), and waterfowl may appear naiant (swimming), while cranes may appear vigilant (standing on one leg). Fish often appear naiant (swimming horizontally) or hauriant (upwards) or urinant (downwards), but may also appear addorsed (two fish hauriant, back to back). Serpents may appear glissant (gliding in
15000-478: The educated gentlemen was to make the Grand Tour , visiting Italy to see its great historical monuments and works of art. It was expected that the visitor would learn at least some Italian, understood as language based on Florentine. In England, while the classical languages Latin and Greek were the first to be learned, Italian became the second most common modern language after French, a position it held until
15150-462: The establishment of Italian, and as such are sister languages to the Tuscan that was the historical source of Italian. They can be quite different from Italian and from each other, with some belonging to different linguistic branches of Romance. The only exceptions to this are twelve groups considered " historical language minorities ", which are officially recognized as distinct minority languages by
15300-433: The fact that it was linguistically an intermediate between the northern and the southern Italian dialects. Thus the dialect of Florence became the basis for what would become the official language of Italy. Italian was progressively made an official language of most of the Italian states predating unification, slowly replacing Latin, even when ruled by foreign powers (such as Spain in the Kingdom of Naples , or Austria in
15450-403: The field, while later writers such as Edmondson favoured one-fifth, "on the grounds that a bend, pale, or chevron occupying one-third of the field makes the coat look clumsy and disagreeable". Woodcock goes so far as to enumerate the ordinaries thus: "The first Honourable Ordinary is the cross", the second is the chief, the third is the pale, the fourth is the bend, the fifth is the fess, the sixth
15600-466: The field. As discussed above, much disagreement exists among authors regarding which ordinary charges are "honourable", so only those generally agreed to be "honourable ordinaries" will be discussed here, while the remainder of ordinary charges will be discussed in the following section. Most of the ordinaries have corresponding diminutives , narrower versions, most often mentioned when two or more appear in parallel: bendlets, pallets, bars (multiples of
15750-495: The first French Emperor , the Italian Republic was transformed into the first Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy (1805–1814), or Italico , under his direct rule. The flag of the Kingdom of Italy was that of the Republic in rectangular form, charged with the golden Napoleonic eagle. This remained in use until the fall of Napoleon in 1814. With the fall of Napoleon and the restoration of the absolutist monarchical regimes ,
15900-501: The fleur-de-lis) in the arms of Eton College . The rose is perhaps even more widely seen in English heraldry than the fleur-de-lis. Its heraldic form is derived from the "wild" type with only five petals, and it is often barbed (the hull of the bud, its points showing between the petals) and seeded in contrasting tinctures. The thistle frequently appears as a symbol of Scotland . The trefoil , quatrefoil and cinquefoil are abstract forms resembling flowers or leaves. The trefoil
16050-476: The free website and application Duolingo has 4.94 million English speakers learning the Italian language. According to the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs , every year there are more than 200,000 foreign students who study the Italian language; they are distributed among the 90 Institutes of Italian Culture that are located around the world, in the 179 Italian schools located abroad, or in
16200-504: The heroic poem by Heinrich von Veldeke based on the story of Aeneas , the bearer of the arms of a lion is set against the bearer of the arms of an eagle. If one takes the latter to be the historical and geographical forerunner of the Holy Roman emperor , then the bearer of the lion represents the unruly feudal lords, to whom the emperor had to make more and more concessions, particularly to the powerful duke of Bavaria and Saxony, Henry
16350-489: The island of Corsica (but not in the neighbouring Sardinia , which on the contrary underwent Italianization well into the late 18th century, under Savoyard sway: the island's linguistic composition, roofed by the prestige of Spanish among the Sardinians , would therein make for a rather slow process of assimilation to the Italian cultural sphere ). The rediscovery of Dante's De vulgari eloquentia , as well as
16500-577: The language has a 7-vowel sound system ('e' and 'o' have mid-low and mid-high sounds). Italian has contrast between short and long consonants and gemination (doubling) of consonants. During the Middle Ages , the established written language in Europe was Latin, although the great majority of people were illiterate, and only few were well versed in the language. In the Italian Peninsula , as in most of Europe, most would instead speak
16650-640: The language to that continent. According to some sources, Italian is the second most spoken language in Argentina after the official language of Spanish, although its number of speakers, mainly of the older generation, is decreasing. Italian bilingual speakers can be found scattered across the Southeast of Brazil as well as in the South. In Venezuela , Italian is the most spoken language after Spanish and Portuguese, with around 200,000 speakers. In Uruguay , people who speak Italian as their home language are 1.1% of
16800-498: The late 18th century when it tended to be replaced by German. John Milton , for instance, wrote some of his early poetry in Italian. Within the Catholic Church , Italian is known by a large part of the ecclesiastical hierarchy and is used in substitution for Latin in some official documents. Italian loanwords continue to be used in most languages in matters of art and music (especially classical music including opera), in
16950-534: The late 19th to the mid-20th century, millions of Italians settled in Argentina, Uruguay, Southern Brazil and Venezuela, as well as in Canada and the United States, where they formed a physical and cultural presence. In some cases, colonies were established where variants of regional languages of Italy were used, and some continue to use this regional language. Examples are Rio Grande do Sul , Brazil, where Talian
17100-514: The law. On the other hand, Corsican (a language spoken on the French island of Corsica ) is closely related to medieval Tuscan , from which Standard Italian derives and evolved. The differences in the evolution of Latin in the different regions of Italy can be attributed to the natural changes that all languages in regular use are subject to, and to some extent to the presence of three other types of languages: substrata, superstrata, and adstrata . The most prevalent were substrata (the language of
17250-497: The like. The "sea lion" and "sea horse", for example, do not appear as natural sea lions and seahorses , but rather as half-lion half-fish and half-horse half-fish, respectively. Fish of various species often appear in canting arms , e.g.: pike , also called luce, for Pike or Lucy; dolphin (a conventional kind of fish rather than the natural mammal) for the Dauphin de Viennois . The escallop ( scallop shell) became popular as
17400-522: The local heraldry and vexillology well into modern times in Corsica and Sardinia . Armigers bearing moors or moors' heads may have adopted them for any of several reasons, to include symbolizing military victories in the Crusades , as a pun on the bearer's name in the canting arms of Morese, Negri, Saraceni, etc., or in the case of Frederick II , possibly to demonstrate the reach of his empire. Even
17550-415: The most frequent tree by far is the oak (drawn with large leaves and acorns), followed by the pine . Apples and bunches of grapes occur very frequently, other fruits less so. When the fruit is mentioned, as to indicate a different tincture, the tree is said to be fructed of the tincture. If a tree is "eradicated" it is shown as if it has been ripped up from the ground, the roots being exposed. "Erased"
17700-500: The mullet or star, crescent and cross: In English heraldry the crescent , mullet , martlet , annulet , fleur-de-lis and rose may be added to a shield to distinguish cadet branches of a family from the senior line. It does not follow, however, that a shield containing such a charge necessarily belongs to a cadet branch. All of these charges occur frequently in basic ( undifferenced ) coats of arms. Humans, deities, angels and demons occur more often as crests and supporters than on
17850-412: The nation was unified in 1861. Italian is a Romance language , a descendant of Vulgar Latin (colloquial spoken Latin). Standard Italian is based on Tuscan , especially its Florentine dialect , and is, therefore, an Italo-Dalmatian language , a classification that includes most other central and southern Italian languages and the extinct Dalmatian . According to Ethnologue , lexical similarity
18000-408: The number of printing presses in Italy grew rapidly and by the year 1500 reached a total of 56, the biggest number of printing presses in all of Europe. This enabled the production of more pieces of literature at a lower cost and Italian, as the dominant language, spread. Italian became the language used in the courts of every state in the Italian Peninsula , as well as the prestige variety used on
18150-630: The openness of vowels, the length of the consonants, and influence of the local language (for example, in informal situations andà , annà and nare replace the standard Italian andare in the area of Tuscany, Rome and Venice respectively for the infinitive "to go"). There is no definitive date when the various Italian variants of Latin—including varieties that contributed to modern Standard Italian—began to be distinct enough from Latin to be considered separate languages. One criterion for determining that two language variants are to be considered separate languages rather than variants of
18300-584: The original inhabitants), as the Italian dialects were most probably simply Latin as spoken by native cultural groups. Superstrata and adstrata were both less important. Foreign conquerors of Italy that dominated different regions at different times left behind little to no influence on the dialects. Foreign cultures with which Italy engaged in peaceful relations with, such as trade, had no significant influence either. Throughout Italy, regional varieties of Standard Italian, called Regional Italian , are spoken. Regional differences can be recognized by various factors:
18450-458: The other hand, almost everyone still speaks the Corsican idiom , which, due to its linguistic proximity to the Italian standard language, appears both linguistically as an Italian dialect and therefore as a carrier of Italian culture, despite the French government's decades-long efforts to cut Corsica off from the Italian motherland. Italian was the official language in Monaco until 1860, when it
18600-651: The patron of a town. Knights, bishops, monks and nuns, kings and queens also occur frequently. There are rare occurrences of a "child" (without further description, this is usually understood to be a very young boy, and young girls are extremely rare in heraldry), both the head and entire body. A famous example is the child swallowed by a dragon (the biscione ) in the arms of Visconti dukes of Milan . Greco - Roman mythological figures typically appear in an allegorical or canting role. Angels very frequently appear, but angelic beings of higher rank, such as cherubim and seraphim , are extremely rare. An archangel appears in
18750-406: The population of Italy could speak Standard Italian. He reports that in 1951 that percentage had risen to 87%. The ability to speak Italian did not necessarily mean it was in everyday use, and most people (63.5%) still usually spoke their native dialects. In addition, other factors such as mass emigration, industrialization, and urbanization, and internal migrations after World War II , contributed to
18900-466: The populations of Bologna, Ferrara, Modena and Reggio Emilia. Giuseppe Compagnoni also motioned that the standard or Cispadan Flag of three colours, Green, White and Red, should be rendered Universal and that these three colours should also be used in the Cispadan Cockade, which should be worn by everyone. It is decreed. [...] The congress decision to adopt a green, white and red tricolour flag
19050-505: The principal attitudes found in heraldry need be discussed here. These, in the case of beasts, include the erect positions, the seated positions, and the prone positions. In the case of birds, these include the "displayed" positions, the flying positions, and the resting positions. Additionally, birds are frequently described by the position of their wings. A few other attitudes warrant discussion, including those particular to fish, serpents, griffins and dragons. The principal attitude of beasts
19200-469: The proliferation of Standard Italian. The Italians who emigrated during the Italian diaspora beginning in 1861 were often of the uneducated lower class, and thus the emigration had the effect of increasing the percentage of literates, who often knew and understood the importance of Standard Italian, back home in Italy. A large percentage of those who had emigrated also eventually returned to Italy, often more educated than when they had left. Although use of
19350-528: The pronunciation of stressed "e", and of "s" between vowels in many words: e.g. va bene "all right" is pronounced [vabˈbɛːne] by a Roman (and by any standard Italian speaker), [vaˈbeːne] by a Milanese (and by any speaker whose native dialect lies to the north of the La Spezia–Rimini Line ); a casa "at home" is [akˈkaːsa] for Roman, [akˈkaːsa] or [akˈkaːza] for standard, [aˈkaːza] for Milanese and generally northern. In contrast to
19500-415: The publication of Agnolo Monosini 's Latin tome Floris italicae linguae libri novem in 1604 followed by the first Italian dictionary in 1612. An important event that helped the diffusion of Italian was the conquest and occupation of Italy by Napoleon in the early 19th century (who was himself of Italian-Corsican descent). This conquest propelled the unification of Italy some decades after and pushed
19650-487: The referendum that allowed France to annex Savoy and Nice, and a group of his followers (among the Italian Savoyards ) took refuge in Italy in the following years. Corsica passed from the Republic of Genoa to France in 1769 after the Treaty of Versailles . Italian was the official language of Corsica until 1859. Giuseppe Garibaldi called for the inclusion of the " Corsican Italians " within Italy when Rome
19800-502: The shield. (Though in many heraldic traditions the depiction of deities is considered taboo, exceptions to this also occur.) When humans do appear on the shield, they almost always appear affronté (facing forward), rather than toward the left like beasts. Such as the arms of the Dalziel family of Scotland, which depicted a naked man his arms expanded on a black background. The largest group of human charges consists of saints , often as
19950-568: The sites of battles. For example, Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson received a chief of augmentation containing a landscape alluding to the Battle of the Nile . By far the most frequent building in heraldry is the tower , a tapering cylinder of masonry topped with battlements , usually having a door and a few windows. The canting arms of the Kingdom of Castile are Gules, a tower triple-turreted Or ( i.e. three small towers standing atop
20100-425: The subordinaries (see above), but as their form is not related to the shape of the shield – indeed they may appear independent of the shield ( i.e. in crests and badges ) – they are more usefully considered here. These include the escutcheon or inescutcheon, lozenge, fusil, mascle, rustre, billet, roundel, fountain, and annulet. Several other simple charges occur with comparable frequency. These include
20250-473: The teachings of the Roman Catholic Church began to be understood from new perspectives as humanists —individuals who placed emphasis on the human body and its full potential—began to shift focus from the church to human beings themselves. The continual advancements in technology play a crucial role in the diffusion of languages. After the invention of the printing press in the 15th century,
20400-469: The title Divina , were read throughout the peninsula and his written dialect became the "canonical standard" that all educated Italians could understand. Dante is still credited with standardizing the Italian language. In addition to the widespread exposure gained through literature, the Florentine dialect also gained prestige due to the political and cultural significance of Florence at the time and
20550-542: The total population of the country. In Australia, Italian is the second most spoken foreign language after Chinese, with 1.4% of the population speaking it as their home language. The main Italian-language newspapers published outside Italy are the L'Osservatore Romano ( Vatican City ), the L'Informazione di San Marino ( San Marino ), the Corriere del Ticino and the laRegione Ticino ( Switzerland ),
20700-462: The various alphabets are also relatively rare. Arms of merchants in Poland and eastern Germany are often based on house marks , abstract symbols resembling runes , though they are almost never blazoned as runes, but as combinations of other heraldic charges. Musical instruments commonly seen are the harp (as in the coat of arms of Ireland ), bell and trumpet . The drum , almost without exception,
20850-522: The whole, particularly heads (occasionally of exotic nationality), hearts (always stylized), hands, torso and armored limbs. A famous heraldic hand is the Red Hand of Ulster , alluding to an incident in the legendary Milesian invasion. Hands also appear in the coat of arms of Antwerp . Ribs occur in Iberian armory, canting for the Portuguese family da Costa . According to Woodward & Burnett,
21000-659: The working languages of the Council of Europe . It is the third-most-widely spoken native language in the European Union (13% of the EU population) and it is spoken as a second language by 13.4 million EU citizens (3%). Including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries (such as Switzerland, Albania and the United Kingdom ) and on other continents, the total number of speakers is approximately 85 million. Italian
21150-550: The world) is a ball or globe surmounted by a cross, which is part of the regalia of an emperor or king, and is the emblem of sovereign authority and majesty. Books constantly occur, most frequently in the arms of colleges and universities , though the Gospel and Bible are sometimes distinguished. Books if open may be inscribed with words. Words and phrases are otherwise rare, except in Spanish and Portuguese armory. Letters of
21300-561: Was also introduced to Somalia through colonialism and was the sole official language of administration and education during the colonial period but fell out of use after government, educational and economic infrastructure were destroyed in the Somali Civil War . Italian is also spoken by large immigrant and expatriate communities in the Americas and Australia. Although over 17 million Americans are of Italian descent , only
21450-692: Was also proposed not to celebrate the date, or even to modify the flag itself, hypotheses scarcely accepted by the members of the Parliament. In Reggio nell'Emilia, the Festa del Tricolore is celebrated in Piazza Prampolini, in front of the town hall, in the presence of one of the most important officers of the State (the President of Italy or the president of one of the chambers ), who attends
21600-525: Was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy , but King Victor Emmanuel II did not agree to it. Italian is generally understood in Corsica by the population resident therein who speak Corsican , which is an Italo-Romance idiom similar to Tuscan. Francization occurred in Nice case, and caused a near-disappearance of the Italian language as many of the Italian speakers in these areas migrated to Italy. In Corsica, on
21750-530: Was first adopted as flag by an Italian sovereign state, the Cispadane Republic , on 7 January 1797. The day was established by law n. 671 of 31 December 1996 with the intention of celebrating the bicentenary of the birth in Reggio nell'Emilia of the Italian flag, which officially took place, as already mentioned, on 7 January 1797 with the official adoption of the Tricolour by the Cispadana Republic,
21900-589: Was in fact, quoting the textual words of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria : " [The tricolour was banned to] make people forget that they are Italian. " After the Napoleonic era, the Tricolour became a symbol of the Unification of Italy struggle. It was in fact adopted during the revolutions of 1820 , the revolutions of 1830 , the revolutions of 1848 , the First Italian War of Independence ,
22050-490: Was inspired by this flag. It was during this period that the green, white and red tricolour predominantly penetrated the collective imagination of the Italians, becoming an unequivocal symbol of Italianness . In less than 20 years, the red, white and green flag had acquired its own peculiarity from a simple flag derived from the French one, becoming very famous and known. In the same year, after Napoleon had crowned himself as
22200-443: Was mirrored by a decline in the use of the dialects. An increase in literacy was one of the main driving factors (one can assume that only literates were capable of learning Standard Italian, whereas those who were illiterate had access only to their native dialect). The percentage of literates rose from 25% in 1861 to 60% in 1911, and then on to 78.1% in 1951. Tullio De Mauro , an Italian linguist, has asserted that in 1861 only 2.5% of
22350-658: Was replaced by the French. This was due to the annexation of the surrounding County of Nice to France following the Treaty of Turin (1860) . It formerly had official status in Montenegro (because of the Venetian Albania ), parts of Slovenia and Croatia (because of the Venetian Istria and Venetian Dalmatia ), parts of Greece (because of the Venetian rule in the Ionian Islands and by
22500-515: Was then greeted by a jubilant atmosphere, such was the enthusiasm of the delegates, and by a peal of applause. In France, due to the Revolution, the flag went from having a "dynastic" and "military" meaning to a "national" one, and this concept, still unknown in Italy, was transmitted by the French to the Italians. In the assembly of 21 January, which was instead convened in Modena , the adoption of
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