The three symbols of Milan, the capital city of Lombardy, are the coat of arms, the gonfalon and the flag, as stated in the municipal charter.
The flag used by the modern city of Milan faithfully reproduces the one used by the Duchy of Milan from 1395 to 1797, namely a white banner with a red cross. Depending on the historical period and - in particular - on the reigning dynasty that ruled the city, different civic banners (the so-called Vexillum civitas) followed one another, which from time to time represented the noble family that ruled the Milanese duchy, without prejudice to the preservation of the primigenial white city flag with a red cross as the official state banner (the so-called Vexillum publicum).
The coat of arms of Milan consists of a silver (white) Samnite shield on which is superimposed a red cross. The whole is enclosed on the sides by a laurel branch and an oak branch, tied together by a tricolor ribbon. The shield, which is stamped with a gold or black-colored turreted crown, a symbol of the city title, has been in use in its modern form since March 19, 1934, when the relevant decree granting it was issued by the state. The red cross on a white field as the symbol of the city of Milan originated in the Middle Ages: this subject, which was first featured on the flag of Milan, was later the inspiration for the creation of the city's coat of arms.
The first gonfalon of Milan was a tapestry made around 1565 by embroiderers Scipione Delfinone and Camillo Pusterla from designs by Giuseppe Arcimboldi and Giuseppe Meda. Restored approximately twenty times over the next three centuries, it is kept inside the Castello Sforzesco, in the Sala del Gonfalone.. A copy of it, which is kept in Palazzo Marino, in the Sala dell'Alessi, is displayed on the most important official occasions to represent the city of Milan. Both of the mentioned gonfalons depict, in the center, Saint Ambrose, bishop of Milan and patron saint of the city.
Other symbols of Milan, which are not officially recognized, are the half-woollen boar, an animal linked to the legend of its founding and the city's first symbol, the so-called "Madonnina," a golden statue placed on the highest spire of Milan Cathedral representing Mary, mother of Jesus Christ (this statue is also the protagonist of the Milanese dialect song "Oh mia bella Madonnina" by Giovanni D'Anzi, which is in fact considered the hymn of the city), the biscione (in Milanese dialect el bisson), portrayed in the act of swallowing or protecting, depending on the interpretation, a child or a naked man, originally a symbol of the Visconti family, Lords and then Dukes of Milan between the 13th and 15th centuries, and finally Meneghino, a character from the Milanese theater who later became a mask of the commedia dell'arte.
Blazon
The coat of arms of Milan was approved by decree of the Head of Government on March 19, 1934. The blazon of the city's symbols is thus given in the statute of the municipality of Milan:
The gonfalon of Milan is decorated with two honors. Milan was the first, among the twenty-seven cities decorated with a gold medal as "well-deserving of the national Risorgimento," to be awarded this honor for the highly patriotic actions performed by the city during the Risorgimento period (by the ruling House of Savoy, which granted Milan this honor, intended as the period between 1848 and 1918).
The Lombard capital is also among the cities decorated for military valor for the War of Liberation; in particular, it is awarded the Gold Medal of Military Valor for the sacrifices suffered by its population and for its activity in the Partisan Resistance during World War II.
The reasons for the awarding of the two honors are: Medal to meritorious cities of the National Risorgimento "To commemorate the heroic deeds performed by the Milanese citizens in the five days of 1848. The Milanese popular insurrection erupted on March 18, 1848, on news of the revolution in Vienna and the insurrection in Venice. On the 23rd, the insurgents forced Marshal Radetzki to abandon the city and retreat to Verona. Among the insurgents there were about three hundred dead."— Rome, March 18, 1898 Gold Medal of Military Valor "In the epic "Five Days," rising up and driving a powerfully armed army from its walls, it demonstrated how much the popular impetus sustained by an unquenchable thirst for justice, freedom, and independence is worth against tyranny. Present with its martyrs and heroes in Mazzini's conspiracies and in the battles of the early Risorgimento, in the years from 1943 to 1945, though maimed and bloodied by wartime attacks, it opposed the ruthless enemy of all times, the pride and impetus of a relentless partisan struggle, in which it was prodigal with the blood of its best sons, and finally overwhelmed him in the victorious insurrection of April 25, 1945. An admirable example of civic and warrior virtues that the Republic honors. March 18–22, 1848, February 6, 1853, September 9, 1943, April 25, 1945."— Rome, March 15, 1948
History
The flag of Milan
Depending on the historical period and - in particular - on the ruling dynasty that dominated the city, different civic banners (the so-called Vexillum civitas, which could also be used as a war flag) followed one another, which from time to time represented the noble family that ruled the Milanese duchy (e.g. the blue biscione on a white field, which later became the coat of arms of the Visconti family and of the Duchy of Milan), without prejudice to the preservation of the primigenial white city flag with a red cross as the official state banner (the so-called Vexillum publicum).
Added to these two banners was the Vexillum populus, or the people's banner, which depicted the effigy of Saint Ambrose, bishop of Milan: this subject was later taken up by the Golden Ambrosian Republic, which existed from 1447 to 1450, for its own flag.
Legend has it that the cross was given as an insignia to the Milanese by Pope Gelasius I in the person of Alione Visconti, hypothetical fieldmaster general of the city army against Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, but this hypothesis does not stand up to historical verification..
In 1038, when Archbishop Ariberto da Intimiano armed the plebs and gave them the Carroccio, Milan did not yet have a flag, but according to the chronicler Arnolfo, an eyewitness to the events, two bands of snow-white fabric hung from the flagpole of the Carroccio. There was indeed a cross on the Carroccio, but it was a wooden Latin cross attached lower than the bands and above the altar, used for the celebration of religious rites..
The adoption of the symbol of the red cross on a silver field dates back to a time after the First Crusade, and all scholars agree that there was no heraldic symbol of Milan before that time. Other legend has it that the cross was adopted by Milanese crusaders during the conquest of the Holy Sepulcher..
The earliest written record mentioning the flag of Milan in the form of a red cross on a white field is dated 1155: it is recorded on a letter sent by the Tortonians to the consuls of Milan. On this document the flag of Milan is described as a white banner on which is placed a red cross in the form of a "pattée," that is, a cross with arms spreading out at the ends.
This early flag, which later gave rise to the modern banner, is depicted on a bas-relief once present on medieval Porta Romana, which was demolished in 1793: this bas-relief was saved from destruction and is now on display at the Castello Sforzesco. As for the cross, the Milanese chose this subject as their symbol in homage to Jesus Christ: thus it did not originate, as one might believe, from the Crusades, the Holy Roman Empire or the Papacy.
Giorgio Giulini reports in his Memoirs that the Lodi historian Ottone Morena personally saw in 1160 the Carroccio of Milan on which towered "a very large white banner with a red cross," a standard that also appeared on the Carroccio used in the Battle of Legnano (May 29, 1176), an armed clash that saw the Lombard League victorious over the army of the Holy Roman Empire led by Frederick Barbarossa.. In fact, the Lombard League chose the red-crossed white standard of Milan as its banner.
After the Battle of Legnano, the Milanese cross emblem became a symbol of authority and autonomy, and many cities in northern Italy adopted it; from 1859 the Province of Milan itself accepted it as the basis of its coat of arms, which would later change to the current one present since 1992 and later adopted by the metropolitan city of Milan.
Thus it was only in the 13th century that the flag of Milan took its final form, namely a red cross on a white field, abandoning the primitive "pattée" shape. From it was then derived the coat of arms of Milan, namely a silver (white) Samnite shield on which there is a red cross, which is still used today. The debut of the cross on a white field on the city coat of arms was thus subsequent to the first appearance of this symbol of Milan on a flag: it was the red cross on a white field present on the banner of Milan that later inspired the subject of the city's coat of arms.
The war flag of the Duchy of Milan, on the other hand, was a banner used from 1277 to 1540 by the Visconti and later by the Sforza family having in the center a "biscione" in the act of swallowing a child: the "biscione" later became one of the most famous symbols of Milan. To the military ensign of Milan Dante Alighieri dedicated these verses of the Divine Comedy:
The meanings that could be associated with these verses are two: "the Milanese army camps only where the biscione was set," i.e., the banner of the Visconti, or "the biscione that the Milanese keep in their military camp."
From this flag of war was derived the civic standard of the Visconti, who added a black imperial eagle on a gold background to the biscione in 1329 (in honor of Azzone Visconti's obtaining the imperial vicariate), and which was later retained by the Sforza. An exception was the civic banner used from 1395 to 1402, in the early years of the Duchy, where the fleur-de-lys of France, granted by the King of France Charles VI for the duke's marriage to Isabella of Valois, and the snake were depicted: then, in place of the fleur-de-lys of France, the Visconti imperial eagle was restored.
Noteworthy was the state flag of the Golden Ambrosian Republic, created in 1447 due to the heirless death of Filippo Maria Visconti. The Milanese republic was abolished in 1450 with the seizure of power by Francesco Sforza, who restored the Duchy of Milan. The flag of the Golden Ambrosian Republic took up the ancient Milanese crossed banner to which the figure of St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan, was added.
Evolution of the flags and banners of Milan
The birth of the coat of arms of Milan
At the founding of the medieval commune of Milan (1045), a shield party of white (symbol of the people) and red (symbol of the nobles) was used as the coat of arms. The adoption of the red cross on a white field as a coat of arms dates back to the 12th century as a sign of greater autonomy from the Holy Roman Empire; Milan was not an exception, as the use of a civic coat of arms began to be common for other cities as well..
The earliest record of the coat of arms in its present form is from the 14th century and was on the ark of Azzone Visconti present in the church of San Gottardo in Corte, now lost, where Saint Ambrose was depicted carrying the white banner with the red cross..