Symbols of Milan
Symbols of the city of Milan, Italy / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.[1]
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.[2] 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).[2][3]
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.[4] 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 O mia bela Madunina 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.