The flag of Tuscany is the official flag of the region of Tuscany, Italy. The flag depicts a silver winged horse rampant on a white field between two horizontal red bands. The flag first appeared as a gonfalon on 20 May 1975 along with accompanying text Regione Toscana above the Pegasus. It was officially adopted as the flag of Tuscany on 3 February 1995.
History
The Pegasus image on the flag derives from a coin made by the Florentine artist Benvenuto Cellini in 1537. This coin was created by Cellini in order to honour Cardinal Pietro Bembo. Bembo was instrumental in the development of the Tuscan language as a literary medium and was honoured with the representation of Pegasus due to its symbolism and ties with creation. As a result, the Pegasus came to be associated as a symbol of the Tuscan region.
The usage of Pegasus by the Tuscan region endured and was adopted by the Tuscan Committee of National Liberation (CTLN) as a symbol of Italian resistance in Tuscany to the German occupation of Italy during the Second World War.
On 11 August 1975, the 26th anniversary of the liberation of Florence, the flag of the CTLN was symbolically handed over to the President of Tuscany, Lelio Lagorio by the mayor of Florence, Elio Gabbuggiani, in a ceremony at the Palazzo Vecchio. This demonstrated the symbolic adoption of the flag of Tuscany by the region. However, the flag was not officially recognised.
The flag was officially adopted in 1995 following President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro's call for the flag of each Italian region to be represented in the Quirinale Palace. The usage of the Pegasus was favoured by the Tuscan Regional Council over a depiction of Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man, as this was considered unsuitable to be reproduced simply.
The flag is often seen flying outside of Tuscan governmental buildings throughout the region. The seat of the Tuscan Regional Government, Palazzo Capponi-Covoni, is known as the Palazzo del Pegaso in reference to the flag. The flag also features on the sash used by the President of Tuscany to distinguish them from other members of the council.
Republic of Pisa The Republic of Pisa was an independent state centered on the Tuscan city of Pisa, which existed from the 11th to the 15th century. It rose to become an economic powerhouse, a commercial center whose merchants dominated Mediterranean and Italian trade for a century, before being surpassed and superseded by the Republic of Genoa.
First flag
The flag was awarded together with the coat of arms of the republic by Frederick Barbarossa in 1162. The city was consistently loyal to the empire and had a fully red flag and coat of arms. The shape of the flag is uncertain and may not even have been standardized. This flag has been in force throughout the history of the state.
Second flag
It is not known under what circumstances or when exactly the cross was added, but it is supposed to have happened in the 13th century, probably in the second half. It is also not known if it has any connection with a similar Occitan cross. In 1406, when Pisa lost its independence, the flag remained as an insignia of the commune and is still the flag of the city to this day. It also appears on Italian coats of arms and nautical insignia, along with the emblems of the other great maritime republics of Venice, Genoa and Amalfi.
Republic of Siena The Republic of Siena was a historic state consisting of the city of Siena. It existed for over 400 years, from 1125 to 1555. During its existence, it gradually expanded throughout southern Tuscany becoming one of the major economic powers of the Middle Ages, and one of the most important commercial, financial and artistic centers in Europe. In the Italian War of 1551–1559 the republic was defeated by the rival Republic of Florence in alliance with the Spanish crown. After 18 months of resistance, the Republic of Siena surrendered on 21 April 1555, marking the end of the republic.
The exact appearance of the municipal flag is undetermined. The earliest evidence of its existence is recorded in the Biccherna on the purchase of black and white fabrics to make 77 banners. The city of Siena uses this flag to this day.
The famous fresco in the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena "Guidoriccio da Fogliano at the Siege of Montemassi" (1328), attributed to Simone Martini, shows the black and white flags of the Siena military camps and captured castles fluttering with the flags of the commune. They are divided vertically with three tails.
Republic of Florence The Republic of Florence was a state that was centered on the Italian city of Florence in Tuscany. The republic originated in 1115, when the Florentine people rebelled against the Margraviate of Tuscany upon the death of Matilda of Tuscany, who controlled vast territories that included Florence. The Florentines formed a commune in her successors' place. Cosimo I, established a strong Florentine navy and expanded his territory, conquering Siena in 1555. In 1569, the Pope declared Cosimo the first Duke of Tuscany. The Medici ruled the Grand Duchy of Tuscany until 1737.
After the founding of the Duchy of Florence, the state flag became obsolete and the civil flag became the flag of the city of florence.
Grand Duchy of Tuscany The Grand Duchy of Tuscany was an Italian monarchy that existed, with interruptions, from 1569 to 1859, replacing the Republic of Florence.Strathern, Paul: The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance, Vintage books, London, 2003, , pp. 315–321 The grand duchy's capital was Florence. Having brought nearly all Tuscany under his control after conquering the Republic of Siena, Cosimo I de' Medici, was elevated by a papal bull of Pope Pius V to Grand Duke of Tuscany on 27 August 1569. The Grand Duchy was ruled by the House of Medici until the extinction of its senior branch in 1737. Francis Stephen of Lorraine, a cognatic descendant of the Medici, succeeded the family and ascended the throne of his Medicean ancestors. Tuscany was governed by a viceroy, Marc de Beauvau-Craon, for his entire rule. His descendants ruled, and resided in, the grand duchy until its end in 1859, barring one interruption, when Napoleon Bonaparte gave Tuscany to the House of Bourbon-Parma (Kingdom of Etruria, 1801–7). Following the collapse of the Napoleonic system in 1814, the grand duchy was restored. The United Provinces of Central Italy, a client state of the Kingdom of Sardinia, annexed Tuscany in 1859. Tuscany was formally annexed to Sardinia in 1860, as a part of the unification of Italy.
First flag
The state flag and the Medici banner, adopted in a stable form for the institutions of the Grand Duchy, survived until the accession of the throne to the House of Lorraine. The Medici shield, whose origin is lost in legend, has red spheres on a golden field and on top, a sixth blue ball with three French lilies, donated by King Louis XI to Piero di Cosimo de' Medici in 1466. The shield appears flanked by the chain of the Order of the Golden Fleece (added in 1548) and with the Cross of the Order of Saint Stephen (present since 1562, when the Order was founded). The crown is Florentine in shape with a red lily in the center, an ancient symbol of Florence (1251).
During the Medici period, the Tuscan navy identified itself with the fleet of the Order of Santo Stefano. The official flag raised by the galleys was red with yellow borders with the Cross of the Order in the center in a white circle. It appeared after 1562 (the year of the founding of the order) and probably lasted until the end of the Medici rule.
The flag known as "Livorno", for commercial use, used from the 17th century and probably survived until 1737. It comes from the flag of the Order of Saint Stephen, it is represented in many varieties and with different additions. The correct drawing is most likely the one shown here, taken from the Dutch manuscript reissued by K. Sierksma of the Flags of the World 1669-1670, with the Stefan cross surrounded by all the Medici balls.
Second flag
Flag for commercial use, used in the first half of the 18th century, possibly between the advent of Lorraine (1737) and the introduction of imperial flags by Francis II (1749). The origin and meaning are unknown, but it probably has to do with the Cross of the Order of Saint Stephen.
Third flag
The state and navy flag adopted around 1749 and replaced in 1765. Francesco II, Grand Duke of Tuscany and husband of Maria Theresa, became Emperor in 1745.
Fourth flag
Austrian flag adorned with the coat of arms introduced in 1765 with the accession to the throne of Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo. This flag lasted until the end of Tuscany's independence, but with two breaks during the Napoleonic period (1800-1814) and a short constitutional period (1848–1849). It was finally lowered and replaced with the Italian tricolor in May 1859. The shield, topped, was quartered with the coat of arms of Hungary, Bohemia, Burgundy and Bar, the entire shield with the coat of arms of Lorraine, Austria and the Medici. The Great Coat of Arms had different versions on the flags, with differentiation mainly in orders and ornaments. Normalised only after restoration in 1815.
Merchant flag introduced in 1781 and replaced with a tricolor in 1859. On the insignia reserved for large-tonnage merchant ships, it was limited to a coat of arms in the crown with the cross of Saint Stephen. The small boats used the version without the coat of arms, or with only the central shields in the canton.
Fifth flag
Flag of general use, introduced on 17 April 1848 with the constitutional amendment issued a few weeks earlier by Leopold II. On 27 January 1849, the constitution was abrogated and the previous Austrian-colored flag was restored. It was an Italian tricolour with yet another version of the coat of arms in the middle lane.
Kingdom of Etruria
The state and military flag of the Napoleonic kingdom, probably adopted in 1803 (certified on 1 January 1804) and survived until its incorporation into France on 10 December 1807. In the centre of the flag was the complete royal coat of arms: the coats of arms of the Farnese and Gonzaga lineages with two pieces of Lorraine and Austria on the basis, in the center the arms of Castile and Leon with the escutcheon representing France and the Medici. However, flags with very simplified versions of the coat of arms were also used, with only the shield of France and the Medici attached to the cross of St. Stephen, with or without a crown.
During the same period, the merchant flag was used with only two blue stripes and a coat of arms, usually in a simplified version as on the state flag, and at least without orders. The flag used on small-tonnage ships did not include the coat of arms at all.
State of the Presidi
The State of the Presidi was a small territory between 1557 and 1801. It consisted of five towns on the Tuscan coast—Porto Ercole and Porto Santo Stefano on the promontory of Monte Argentario, as well as Orbetello, Talamone and Ansedonia—and their hinterland, along with the islet of Giannutri and the fortress of Porto Longone on the island of Elba.