Savoy_azure

Savoy blue

Savoy blue

Shade of saturated blue

Savoy blue or Savoy azure (Italian: blu Savoia or azzurro Savoia) is a shade of saturated blue between peacock blue and periwinkle, lighter than peacock blue.[1] It owes its name to the fact of being the colour of the House of Savoy, a ruling dynasty in the County of Savoy from 1003 to 1416, the Duchy of Savoy from 1416 to 1714, the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia from 1720 to 1861, and the Kingdom of Italy from 1861 to 1946.

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Having become a national colour with the unification of Italy (1859–70), its use continued even after the birth of the Italian Republic (1946) with the name "Italian blue". An Italian-blue border is in fact inserted on the edge of the Presidential Standard of Italy, and the use of the blue scarf for the Italian Armed Forces' officers, for the presidents of the Italian provinces during the official ceremonies, and of the blue jersey for Italian national sports teams it was also maintained in the Republican era.

Historical origin

Amadeus VI, Count of Savoy

The origin of the colour seems to date back to 20 June 1366 when Amadeus VI, Count of Savoy, before leaving for a crusade commissioned by Pope Urban V and organised to help the Byzantine emperor John V Palaiologos, cousin of a maternal part of the Savoy Count, wanted that on the flagship of the fleet of 17 ships and 2,000 men, a galley of Republic of Venice, waved, next to the red-crusading silver banner of the Savoys, a blue flag:[2]

[...] of devotion of Azure Banner with the image of Our Lady in the field sown with stars (gold). And that colour of sky consecrated to Mary is, as far as it seems to me, the origin of our national colour [...][lower-alpha 1]

— Luigi Cibrario

The colour therefore has a Marian implication, bearing in mind that there is also the possibility that the use of a blue banner by the Savoys started earlier.[4] In any case the oldest documented Savoy flags, dating back to 1589, have the colours red, white (or the colours of the coat of arms of the dynasty) and blue.[5] The latter colour acquired over time prevalence until it became the Italian national colour.

Use

The Italy national football team at the 1982 FIFA World Cup
The Presidential Standard of Italy
Debora Ballarini and Silvia Gaudino during a match of the Italy women's national rugby union team

Referring to the Marian devotions, the ribbons of the Order of the Annunciation (the greatest Savoyard knight sign, transplanted also in the kingdom of Italy), were blue; blues, also in the Republican era, are also the ribbons of the decorations of military valour (gold, silver, bronze medal and the war cross).[6]

Later, even for the officers, a blue scarf was provided in the outfit, dressed as a neck-band passing over the right shoulder and knotted on the left side. In 1572 this use was made obligatory for all the officers by Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy.[6] Through various transformations, the Savoy blue scarf is still the main rank of the Italian armed forces' officers, who dress it both in ceremonial services and, sometimes, on guard.[6]

Other uses in the Republican era of colour are the border of the Italian presidential banner (blue, in heraldry, means "law" and "command") as well as on the institutional flags of some primary public offices (President of the Council of Ministers, minister and undersecretary of defence, high degrees of the Italian Navy and of the Italian Air Force), as well as on the distinctive range of the presidents of the Italian provinces,[6][7] on the Italian blue cockade and on the aircraft used by the Frecce Tricolori.

In the sporting field, the blue of Savoy distinguishes almost all of the athletes who represent Italy internationally in any discipline: the origin of the use of this colour dates back to 6 January 1911, when the Italy national football team faced in Milan the Hungary national football team.[6][8] The term blue shirt by now represents for metonymy the international appearance for Italy, and the athletes who represent the country are called azzurri.[9]

There is no univocal colour coding of the blue links, so that the shade of blue is historically varied over time both within the same national team and, for example, in the same historical era between national teams of different disciplines.[10]

Other shades of colour

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See also

Notes

  1. […] di devozione di Zendado Azzurro con l'immagine di Nostra Signora in campo seminato di stelle (oro). E quel colore di cielo consacrato a Maria è, per quanto a me pare, l’origine del nostro color nazionale […][3]

Citations

  1. [1]
    Grossmann 1911.
  2. [2]
    Martinelli 2006, p. 45.
  3. [3]
    De Sonnaz 1911.
  4. [4]
    Martinelli 2006, p. 46.
  5. [5]
    Martinelli 2006, p. 48.
  6. [6]
    "Azzurri - origine del colore della nazionale" (in Italian). 29 July 2012. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
  7. [7]
    Legislative Decree 18 August 2000, n. 267, article 50, on the subject of "Consolidated law on local government regulations".
  8. [8]
    Marchesini 1999, p. 317.
  9. [9]
    Except in motor sports, where the color assigned to Italy is traditionally the racing red, and in other disciplines such as cycling and winter sports, which often make use of white.
  10. [10]
    "La maglia azzurra nei suoi 100 anni di storia: tutte le divise dell'Italia" (in Italian). Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  11. [11]
    "Il nuovo marchio della Regione Piemonte" (PDF) (in Italian). Regione Piemonte. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2011.

References

  • Gerbaix de Sonnaz, Carlo Alberto (1911). Bandiere stendardi e vessilli di Casa Savoia, dai Conti di Moriana ai Re d'Italia (1200-1861) (in Italian). Tipografia S. Giuseppe degli artigianelli.
  • Grossmann, Maria (1988). Colori e lessico: studi sulla struttura semantica degli aggettivi di colore in catalano, castigliano, italiano, romeno, latino ed ungherese (in Italian). Gunter Narr Verlag. ISBN 3-87808-370-X.
  • Martinelli, Alessandro (February 2006). "L'azzurro italiano". Vexilla Italica (62). Centro Italiano Studi Vessillologici.
  • Marchesini, Daniele (1999). Gli italiani e il Tricolore. Patriottismo, identità nazionale e fratture sociali lungo due secoli di storia (in Italian). Il Mulino. ISBN 88-15-07163-6.
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