Few symbols are as powerful at identifying an individual as belonging to a particular tribe or group than a patriotic tattoo; and there is perhaps no greater symbol identifying a sovereign nation than its flag, so it should come as no surprise that flags are extraordinarily popular as patriotic tattoo designs.
Flag tattoo designs are a powerful way for an individual to symbolize their love, devotion, patriotism and sense of national pride for their country.
The flag of Italy (bandiera d'Italia, often referred to in Italian as Il Tricolor) is a tricolor featuring three equally sized vertical pales of green, white and red, with the green at the hoist side. In its current form it has been in use since 19 June 1946 and was formally adopted on 1 January 1948.
The first entity to use the Italian tricolor was the Repubblica Cispadana (Cispadane Republic) in 1797, after Napoleon's victorious army crossed Italy. During this time many small republics of Jacobin inspiration supplanted the ancient absolute states and almost all, with variants of color, used flags characterized by three bands of equal size, clearly inspired by the French model of 1790. The colors chosen by the Republic were red and white, the colors of the flag of Milan and green, which was the color of the uniform of the Milanese civic guard.
Some have attributed particular values to the colors and a common interpretation is that the green represents the country's plains and the hills, white, the snow-capped Alps and red, blood spilt in the Wars of Italian Independence. A more religious interpretation is that the green represents hope, the white represents faith and the red represents charity; this references the three theological virtues.
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Below you will find a gallery of inspirational images that will help you in your quest of creating the perfect flag tattoo.
Also Check out: Military Tattoos, Memorial Tattoos and Anarchy Tattoos.
