Kingdom of the Lombards

Since modern heraldry did not develop until the High Middle Ages, there was no banner nor coat of arms for the Kingdom. A later tradition retrospectively saw the three votive crowns of the cathedral of Monza (the so-called Iron Crown, the crown of Theodelinda and the one of Agilulf) as symbols of the Lombard kingdom. But in fact, the Lombard coinage tend to show that Lombards used crosses and calvaries as their only symbols.

The Lombard League

When was created the Lombard League (1167) to defend the municipal liberties against Barbarossa, the communes raised a flag with a red cross on a white field, that was at the same time the flag of Milan (destroyed by the emperor in 1162), and the opposite of the loyalist cities flag (a white cross in a red field, derived from the war flag of the Holy Roman Empire).^[18] This flag was carried on the carroccio during the battle of Legnano.

Lordship and Duchy of Milan

In the second half of the 13th century the Lombard League lost its relevance, and the era of Signorie began. Milan slowly took control over most of the other cities, forming in 1395 the Duchy of Milan with Gian Galeazzo Visconti. At its height, it controlled the major part of today Northern Italy (which was called, at that time, simply Lombardy).
The city continued to use the red cross (called Saint Ambrose's Cross, taking name from Milan patron saint),^[19][17] At the end of the Visconti dynasty, the Duchy became for a short period a Republic, using the city's flag with superimposed a depiction of Saint Ambrose.^[17]

Duchy of Mantua

The Duchy of Mantua was in South Lombardy. The Duchy's historic power and influence under the Gonzaga family has made it one of the main artistic, cultural, and especially musical hubs of Northern Italy and the country as a whole. Mantua also had one of the most splendid courts of Italy and Europe in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and early seventeenth centuries.^[22] From the 13th century on, the city had white flags with a red cross. In 1433, coinciding with the recognition of the marquis, four black eagles were added to the cross, and this was also the insignia of the Gonzaga family, which previously wore gold and black stripes. These flags were probably used sporadically until the partition of the principality in 1708.^[23]

Napoleonic era

Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia

After the Vienna Congress, the territories of the Duchy of Milan and the Venetian Republic were merged to form the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia. Its coat of arms was created quartering the Bissa (Lombardy) and the Lion of Saint Mark (Venetia) under the Iron Crown of Lombardy, superimposed on the double-headed eagle of the Austrian Empire. The flag of the Viceroy bears the coat of arms in a yellow field.

Provisional Government of Milan

During the Italian revolution in 1848, an uprising took place in the Austrian Milan. Similar to other places, the insurgents used the Italian tricolor, but with their own symbols.

Kingdom of Italy

In the Kingdom of Italy the regions were only statistical department. Nevertheless, in 1910 was made a proposal to give them a coat of arms: for Lombardy was chosen the Biscione,^[20] proposed again in 1927,^[24] without sequel.