I am not passing judgment here. I am merely alerting people to what they may or may not be aware of- the proper display of an Italian flag. Flags are to be treated with the utmost care- they are a physical embodiment of a nation. To display one improperly or to treat it with disrespect is truly an affront to the nation and its people. It is for these reasons that an American flag must be taken down at night or have a light fixed upon it. It is also why you never see a flag tossed around at ceremonies and why it is such a hot-button issue to burn a flag.
So, what I'm about to say is that the Italian flag cannot be displayed whichever way you please. It can only face one direction, ever. The Italian flag, from left to right is Green, White and Red. Or, if it is easier to remember- pole side out is Green, White and Red. It is never and will never be Red, White and Green.
| This is the ONLY proper display of an Italian flag |
When I see an Italian flag that is displayed backwards (red, white, green from left to right) I have to tell the person to fix it. First of all, its disrespectful to the Italian nation you are attempting to support and show pride in and secondly, it looks idiotic. It is the equivalent of displaying the American flag like this:
Driving around Brooklyn, I've noticed that a great deal of people have backwards Italian flags on their cars. Again, I'm not being judgmental. I'm just trying to shed some light on an issue that needs to be addressed. If you are reading this and are offended- I'm sorry, but there's a good chance you've insulted 55 million Italian natives and 20 million Italian Americans.
So if I see you driving around with a decal that looks like this on your bumper:
Be prepared for a shouting match.
There is a good reason for the order of the colors, too: a symbolic one. The red represents the blood of patriots while the green represents the fecundity of the land. Having the red on the "pole side" means to be grounding the nation in bloodshed, which is certainly an anathema.
ReplyDeleteAn easy way to remember the proper order is that one should be able to hold the flagpole and dip it in red.
Thank you for the info. Is it acceptable to display the italian flag in private homes? I am a foreign national who lives in Italy but, I would like to display the italian flag and my country's flag outside my house (from the balcony).
Delete