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Tricolore and Enrico Ghisi’s work Reduced from Aldo Ziggioto’s lecture held at the VI CISV National Assembly, Lucca, May 27-28th, 2000 Aldo Ziggioto tells the history of the book Il Tricolore Italiano (1796-1870) published in Milan, 1931, and resulting from a profound and decays-long study by Enrico Ghisi. This is a fundamental reference for the story of the Italian flag, from the inception of Napoleon-supported Italian states to the final settlement of the unified Kingdom of Italy. Ausonia: Carboneria’s secret project This is an abstract of an article of Pier Paolo Lugli. Pier Paolo Lugli reports about the state of Ausonia, a secret project targeted to by the highest ranks of Carboneria, the revolutionary movement active in Italy in the first third of the XIX century. Albeit unable to score any long lasting result, Carboneria played a major role in establishing the cultural background that later on made a unified Italy possible. Ausonia utopian kingdom never realized, however a constitution was cast, which included a flag for the state and standards for the army and the navy. Their pattern is controversial, since the description is a puzzle, but the symbolism is strong and well fitting the organization character. Flags of the Sultanate of Sulu between yesterday and today Reduced from a presentation of Paolo Paddeu prepared for the IX CISV National Assembly, Prato, 2003. This article deals with the flags of the Sultanate of Sulu, an archipelago in the southernmost part of the Philippines traditionally rich of standards and vexilloids. Starting from the flag described by Pierre Sonnerat during his journey to the islands between 1774 and 1781, the author follows the development of the Sultanate symbols till those of the current heir of the Sultan, displayed in 2001. Paolo Paddeu brings to light new explanations for the symbols, which merge the local folklore with the Muslim tradition. Continental vexillological traditions and trends – Europe: stars and no-stars Reduced from a presentation of Roberto Breschi at the XVIII CISV National Assembly, Rome, 2002. This survey deals with the flags of the European movement and associations that come into being during the XX century. The author analyse the diverse symbols that have been devised to represent the idea of Europe. Their variety explains the meaning of the words “stars and no-stars” included in the title. Vexilla Italica This is the summary of Aldo Ziggioto’s column VEXILLA ITALICA DISTRICT FLAGS. This section of the magazines reviews the flags of the provinces (Italian districts) of Alessandria, Udine and Pordenone. TOWN FLAGS. The flag of Ancona is analysed after a first work was published on Vexilla Italica no.3, 1974 and now become out-of-date. Notes of Italian vexillology and heraldry New official flag of Avellino district (Provincia), adopted February 24th, 2003. From communications supplied by Mario Dalceri and Elio Capobianco. Civic flag of Viareggio, reported by Roberto Breschi. New ensign for the Minister of the Defence, introduced April 23rd, 2002. A picture is available from the official web site www.difesa.it . REVIEWS In this section of the magazine five new publications are reviewed by R. Breschi, P.P. Lugli and A. Martinelli: Origine e storia della Bandiera d’Italia (Origin and history of the Flag of Italy), Legnano, 2002. Two associations and the local community sponsored this booklet to teach the Italian flag history the children of the primary school. A small edition for a great aim. Bandiera dipinta (Painted Flag), Cinisello Balsamo, 2003. This is the catalogue of an exhibition about the Italian Tricolore celebration by means of paintings, held at Reggio Emilia in Spring 2003. Native American Flags, Norman, 2003. This book by D.T. Healy and P.J. Orenski is a «must have» for anybody interested in native Americans flags and symbology. Banderas, estendartes y trofeos del Museo del Ejército 1700-1843 (1700-1843 flags, ensigns and trophies preserved by the Army Museum), Madrid, 2001. Published by the Spanish Ministry of the Defence, this catalogue by L.S. Musás lists 492 historical flags from the period 1700-1843 and nowadays preserved at the Museo del Ejército, Madrid. The publisher introduced an innovative solution to include a great amount of colour images, still keeping the price to a cheap, mastering all the pictures on a CD-ROM attached to the book. While it is questionable if this electronic support can carry data for centuries – like paper does – nevertheless printing all this colourful material would have greatly reduced the number of readers. A second volume to deal with the period 1843 – today is under preparation. Las Banderas Históricas del Ejército Español (The Historical Flags of the Spanish Army), Madrid, 1996. This volume, published by the Spanish Ministry of the Defence, is a good companion of the previous work. The author, A.M. Lahoz, describes the history of the Spanish military colours and includes an interesting introduction about military vexillology. |