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Veneto Region (Italy)

Regione del Veneto, Venetia

image by Mario Fabretto

Description of the Flag
Previous Flag
The Gonfalone
Vertical Flags
Serenissima
Liga Veneta Repubblica
Modern Variants
LGBT Flag

Veneto Region - Subdivisions

See also:

Other sites:

Regional Flag, Gonfalon and Coat of Arms - Legislation (In Iatalian)
Use of the Regional Symbols - Legislation (In Iatalian)
Bovolenta (Padova Prov.) - Info about the Gonfalon and CoA
San Martino Buon Albergo (Verona Prov.) - Info about the Gonfalon and CoA

Description of the Flag

The gonfalon, the coat of arms and the flag were adopted on the 20th May 1975. The coat of arms is a landscape with the sky in blue with the words Regione del Veneto, the sea in blue, the mountains in brown and a plain in green on which stands the lion of Saint Mark having its right paw on an open book on which is written Pax tibi Marce evangelista meus. The gonfalon is red with ornaments in yellow , the coat of arms in a squarish form and the seven coats of arms of the capital cities of the regional provinces on the seven cut tongues at the bottom. The flag is exactly the same, there is only a rotation of 90 degrees for the coat of arms. The regulations for the use of the flag were issued on the 10th April 1998.
Pascal Vagnat, 22 September 1998

From www.ac-grenoble.fr:
"The flag of Veneto, is the one of the old Republic of Venice, fallen in 1797 with Napoleon's conquest. It represents a winged lion which puts its paw on a book with a Latin inscription. The lion is the symbol of the Evangelist Mark, who is said to have stopped, on a Venetian island, during one of his journeys. There an angel ( who is symbolized by the lion's wings ) appeared to him and greeted him saying : "Peace be with you, Mark, my Evangelist ". He also told him he would rest there after his death. Mark was buried in Alexandria in Egypt, controlled by the Muslim. His remains were stolen by the Venetians, who hid them under a load of pork meat, and then they arrived in Venice in 828. There it was built the wonderful St Mark basilica in order to keep St Mark's remains . Since then the winged lion was the symbol of the free Republic of Venice . In times of peace it was represented with its paw on the book, in times of war with the unsheathed sword . Since 1866 when Veneto was annexed to Italy, the winged lion , with its paw on the book has been the symbol of our region."
Located by Dov Gutterman, 28 August 1999

While visiting cities and town in Veneto (Venice, Verona etc...), I noticed that the flas in use have all blue background and no inscription. Here is photo from Verona. Photo taken by Eli Gutterman.
Dov Gutterman, 15 October 2004

Veneto flag was changed some years ago and the official Veneto flag now don't have the inscription "Regione del Veneto" any more.
Informazioni Sitoveneto, 2 November 2004

Previous Flag

image by Mario Fabretto, 10 December 1996

For a bigger image (110 kB) by Mello luchtenberg, click here

The Gonfalone

image by Mello Luchtenberg, 14 September 2001

Vertical Flags

Two versions of vertical flags were seen at Cortina d'Ampezzo and Borca di Cadore.
Dov Gutterman, 24 October 2004

Serenissima

image by Jaume Ollé, Mello Luchtenberg & Tomislav Todorovic 25 June 2019
"War Flag"

image by Jaume Ollé, Mello Luchtenberg & Tomislav Todorovic 25 June 2019
"Civil Flag"

The dark red and gold flag of the "Serenissima" Republic of Venice (from early days until May 1797) is sparking a harsh debate in Italy, because of the group of Venetian independentists who occupied (using a home-made tank) the Bell Tower of St. Mark Square ten days ago and raised the flag.

Today the trial began in Venice and the online Italian newspaper "la Repubblica" shows a nice picture of the flag hanging from a balcony in town from which you can see the peculiar "tails" of the flag. The main pattern on the flag is, of course, the winged lion of St. Mark.
Alessio Bragadini, 21 May 1997

In the first page of the 10th of May edition of the PUBLICO newspaper there was a photo of Umberto Bossi with flags. In it you can see a very large "Serenissima" flag (a Venetian flag in only gold and red) and behind it a smaller white flag, partially visible. This Serenissima flag has been, apparently, "adopted" by venetian independentists, although it is, also, a "yacht ensign" of Venice. A weird situation, to say the least.
Jorge Candeias, 13 May 2001

This flag is neither the actual flag of "Liga Veneta" (= Northern League Venetian section), nor the flag of the "Serenissimi" ("Serenisimi" in Venetian language), independentist movement from Veneto, who became famous in 1997 for having "conquered" for some hours the famous Bell-Tower of St. Mark in Venice.
The "Serenissima" (or "Serenisima" in Venetian) was the flag of the Repubblica di Venezia ("Repiovega de Venesia" in Venetian: the Venetian language, often but wrongly considered an "Italian dialect" was the official language of that State) and always showed a lion holding a book with the Latin words "PAX TIBI MARCE EVANGELISTA MEVS" (Peace upon You, o Mark!, My Evangelist!) and not a sword. I'm quite sure the variant with the sword was the war flag of the "Serenisima Repiovega de Venesia". I think the error was due to the fact that the "Serenisimi" (maybe) waved a "war flag" over the Bell-Tower of St. Mark, because in their intention it was a "war act" to release Venice from "Italian domination".
Paolo Montanelli, 20 March 2003

I've seen recently the new secretary Matteo Salvini on TV with a "civil version" of the Serenissima looking slightly different (http://www.ilsussidiario.net/News/Politica/2013/3/26/RISOLUZIONE-44-Dal-Veneto-un-referendum-che-puo-cambiare-Italia-ed-Europa-/374608/).
Paolo Montanelli, 23 January 2014

Variants of the flag

image by Jaume Ollé, Mello Luchtenberg & Tomislav Todorovic 25 June 2019

While the general design of these flags remains the same, there are many details which may vary, sometimes almost to the extent of resulting in virtually different flags:

The lion usually has the aureole, either "solid" [1, 2] or voided [3], but may also lack it [4], which is frequently the case with the "war flag" [5, 6]. The compartment is another detail which may sometimes be omitted [4, 7, 8]. When the book is open, the pages are usually gold, but may be white sometimes [9, 10, 11, 12]. The field, upon which the lion is placed, is usually plain, but may sometimes be diapered [9, 10]. In most of cases, only one lion's wing is visible [1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11], although the other one may be partly shown as well [4, 7, 10].

While the flags may have just the gold fimbriation along the edges [3, 13], there is almost always a red border around the whole pattern [11, 12]. In most of cases, the ornaments on the tongues additionally have their own separate golden frame [1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 14]. Width of red border may vary along different edges of the same flag.
The flags without the red outermost border are presented at it-ven.html#ser

Although the flags are meant to be gonfanons, the tongues are frequently not separated. That is usually case with the flags without the outermost red border [3, 15], the gold fimbriation often being turned into a very wide border [16, 17, 18], as also shown here. Flags with the outermost red border may also be shaped like this, usually with a gold [19] or white stripe [4] between the tongues' patterns. While this may look like unfinished product, with printed guidelines for cutting between the tongues, there are photos [4] which reveal stitches along the fly edge, so those flags are clearly complete as such.

Sources:
[1] Flickr - Flag of Venice, photographed on 2010-07-07: https://www.flickr.com/photos/reidlromeo/4770899082/in/set-72157624311394906/
[2] Flickr - Flag of Venice, photographed on 2008-06-10: https://www.flickr.com/photos/vt_professor/2584281741/
[3] Facebook - Ilaria Brunelli's photo gallery, photo added on 2015-04-24: https://www.facebook.com/ilariabrunellibdg/
[4] Vendita Bandiere website: https://www.vendita-bandiere.it/bandiera-per-auto-italia-repubblica-di-venezia-697-1797-30-x-40-cm.html
[5] Il Gazzettino website: https://sport.ilgazzettino.it/
[6] 123rf.com photo archive: https://www.123rf.com/photo_67727605_flag-of-venice-main-symbol-of-venice-the-golden-winged-lion-of-evangelist-mark.html
[7] Bandiere Venete website: http://www.bandierevenete.it/catalogo_prodotti/bandiera_repubblica_veneta_dim_150x80_cm_-_leone_del__700.html
[8] Bandiere Venete website: http://www.bandierevenete.it/catalogo_prodotti/bandiera_repubblica_veneta_dim_150x80_cm_-_leone_con_spada_del__700.html
[9] Alamy photo archive: https://www.alamy.it/vittorio-veneto-italia-23-settembre-2018-rievocazione-storica-con-persone-vestite-come-ottocento-militari-della-repubblica-di-venezia-image222565277.html
[10] Facebook - Antonio Guadagnini's photo gallery, photo added on 2015-10-06: https://www.facebook.com/721483264601661/
[11] Flag of Venice at eBay: https://www.ebay.it/itm/123759110960
[12] Flag of Venice at eBay: https://www.ebay.it/itm/123759110960
[13] Treviso Today website: http://www.trevisotoday.it/politica/laura-puppato-bandiera-veneta-treviso-29-agosto-2017.html
[14] Depositphotos photo archive: https://it.depositphotos.com/11110926/stock-photo-venice-flag.html
[15] Venice-tourism.com website: http://www.venice-tourism.com/en/events/svolo-del-leon-fly-lion
[16] Corriere del Veneto website: https://corrieredelveneto.corriere.it/treviso/foto_del_giorno/2012/14-giugno-2012/furia-bandiere-201607956726.shtml
[17] La Voce di Venezia website: https://www.lavocedivenezia.it/25-aprile-in-piazza-san-marco-albert-gardin-denunciato/
[18] Deskgram.net website: https://deskgram.net/p/1802337754917264949_5351677271
[19] Notizie+ website: https://notizieplus.it/dolomiti-montagne-venezia-turismo-vince/
Tomislav Todorovic, 27 June 2019

Liga Veneta Repubblica

image from Liga Veneta Repubblica site

I located this political group site in which I found this image of flag. I don't know if such a flag is in use. However, it this site there is a photo of some people holding another flag in some kind of demonstration. This flag looks like the one of the "Serenissima" Republic of Venice.
Dov Gutterman , 15 October 1999

Modern Variants

image by Jaume Ollé, Mello Luchtenberg & Tomislav Todorovic 3 May 2020

The flags may sometimes have a blue field which, according to some theories [1], had been the original color, but was later replaced with red, either as the color of blood, thus being considered more appropriate for the war flags, or simply for better visibility at sea. According to those theories, blue flags have remained in use on land for some time, so now they are often said to stand for the mainland parts of Venice/Veneto (Terraferma) [1]. The flags usually bear the
lion with the open book, usually having the aureole as well [2, 3, 4, 5, 6] (not the best visible in all of the cited sources, but still present), although the latter may be omitted [7]. Pages of the book are usually gold [2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7], but may be white sometimes [1]. In all currently known sources [1-7], only one lion's wing is visible. The flags are meant to be gonfannons and seem to be always used as such [1-6], but seem to be frequently sold with the tongues not being
separated, thin golden stripes being placed between the would-be tongues as the guidelines for cutting [7], which is left to the eventual users to do if they will (which is indeed usually done).

image by Jaume Ollé, Mello Luchtenberg & Tomislav Todorovic 3 May 2020

Flags which bear the lion with the closed book and sword are also being merchandised [7], but seem to be used extremely rarely, for no photos of their use could have been found so far. The only currently known variant [7] bears the lion without the aureole, with only one wing visible. Here, also, the tongues' separation seems to be left to the eventual users, with golden guidelines for cutting being placed between the would-be tongues.

Very rarely, flags with white field appear [1]; these are indeed described by several early sources, e.g. the Book of All Kingdoms.

There are unverified claims [1] that these are the peace-time flags, as opposed to war-time red ones; the same assumptions also include purple flags for the time of truce (which seem not to be used currently), while the blue ones should stand for alliances with other countries.

Sources:
[1] Bandiere Venete website - Blog entry on 2016-04-01: https://bandierevenete.blogspot.com/2016/04/fatte-le-bandiere-venete-blu.html
[2] Alamy photo archive: https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-waving-blue-flag-of-the-italian-region-of-veneto-with-white-background-146725321.html
[3] Alamy photo archive: https://www.alamy.it/foto-immagine-venezia-bandiere-bandiera-repubblica-veneta-169806313.html
[4] Alamy photo archive: https://www.alamy.it/foto-immagine-venezia-bandiere-bandiera-repubblica-veneta-169806316.html
[5] Dreamstime photo archive: https://it.dreamstime.com/fotografia-stock-bandiera-della-citt%C3%A0-di-venezia-italia-image71232153
[6] il Fatto Quotidiano newspaper website: https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2017/08/31/veneto-provocazione-della-lega-la-bandiera-di-san-marco-obbligatoria-negli-edifici-pubblici-anche-nelle-scuole/3826445/
[7] Bandiere Venete website - Flags with blue field at the online shop: https://www.bandierevenete.it/catalogo_prodotti/telo-mare-veneto-blu.html

Tomislav Todorovic, 3 May 2020

LGBT Flag

image by Jaume Ollé, Mello Luchtenberg & Tomislav Todorovic 3 May 2020

The LGBT flag of Veneto is based on the "civil" flag of the Republic of Venice (lion with the open book and aureole, one wing visible), on which the tongues of gonfannon are repainted so that each have the field in one of rainbow colors, red at the top, and ornaments in white; red field of the tongue is visibly lighter than the main field, making this one of rare flags which employ two shades of red. The flag was introduced in 2016 by Sanca Veneta ("Venetian Left" in Venetian), an independentist organization, which seems to use it outside the LGBT-related events as well (together with other Venetian flags), but the LGBT people seem to have come to use it regardless of their individual political attitudes [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. In the following years, this variant was rarely seen, but is still used sometimes [7, 8, 9].

image by Jaume Ollé, Mello Luchtenberg & Tomislav Todorovic 3 May 2020