SOCRATES-COMENIUS 1SCHOOL PROJECT

FUTURE CITIZENS OF THE E. U.

CIRCOLO DIDATTICO DI S. A. LI BATTIATIITALY

2005-2006

The Italian Republic:

• FLAG AND COAT OF ARMS OF ITALY

• NATIONAL ITALIAN ANTHEM

• REGIONAL COATS OF ARMS

This is Italy.

Italy is a Country.

We live in Italy.

Italy is divided into 20 Regions.

This is Sicily.

We live in Sicily.

Sicily is one of Italy’s

Regions.

Each Italian Region is broken down into Provinces.

In Sicily there are nine Provinces.We live in the Province of Catania.

This is the Province of Catania.

Each Italian Province is made up of many Districts.

We live in the district of S. A. Li Battiati.

This is the District of Sant’Agata Li Battiati, where we live.

Flag of Italy

The flag of Italy is a green, white and red vertical tricolor.

This flag was officially adopted on June 18, 1946, when Italy became a republic and the monarchy ended after World War 2.

The Italian Coat of Arms is made up with 3 elements: the star, the cogwheel, the oak and the olive branches.

The white five-pointed star represents Italy (this is a traditional symbology).

The cogwheel symbolizes work and progress.

The encircling oak branch represents strength and the olive branch represents peace. The two branches are united by a ribbon with the writing REPUBBLICA ITALIANA.

Coat of Arms of Italy

The coat of arms is sable a lion argent tongued and armed gules, the shield being surmounted by an antic crown on.

The coat of arms is red with a white cross and a superimposed blue LAMBEL; the whole is surrounded by a blue border.

The azure lambel shows the arms of Savoy, the prince of Piedmont who was the traditional title of the eldest son of the King.

The coat of arms depicts a Caravel, which was used by Christopher Columbus. It is a silver vessel with a white sail charged with a red cross and four silver stars in each canton.

The coat of arms is green with a white device called “ROSA CAMUNA”, a kind of cross which should represent a prehistoric drawing made by Camuni, a people who lived in the Lombard Camuna Valley.

The colours, white and green, stand for the main characteristic of the Lombard region: water and vegetation.

The coat of arms is quartered: in the first and the fourth, argent a Trento eagle sable armed or; in the second and the third, argent an eagle of Tyrol gules armed or.

The coat of arms is a landscape with the sky in blue with the writing “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 coat of arms is in a squarish form and the seven coats of arms of the capital cities of the regional provinces are on the seven cut tongues at the bottom.

The coat of arms is azure a golden eagle taking flight on a mural crown argent.

The coat of arms is a white square fimbriated green with a stylized shape of the region in green.

The “Po” and “Via Emilia” are represented in this coat of arms: the river is the curved line, the street is the straight line.

The green colour stands for the plain (the Po valley).

The coat of arms is a sannitic shield, gules a Pegasus argent.

The Pegasus image has been taken from a coin made by the Florentine artist Benvenuto Cellini in 1537. This coin can be seen in the National Museum Bargello in Florence.

White and red have been the traditional colors of Toscana since long time.

The coat of arms has the shape of a white shield bordered green with a big black “M” in the middle, which left part represent a stylized woodpecker.

The ancient people of Piceni considered the woodpecker a holy bird.

The coat of arms is a stylized and graphical representation of the three candles of the city of Gubbio, in red colour fimbriated white on a white rectangular field.

The three candles, the “Ceri”, wood towers of about 500 kg and 5 meters high, are used in the historical-folkloristic fest of St. Ubaldo, celebrated since 13th century, on 15th May, in Gubbio (Umbria).

The coat of arms is an octagon fimbriated in gold with nine fields. Four of them represent the Italian colours and the five other the coat of arms of the five provinces of the region in saltire.

The coat of arms is a sannitic shield. It is divided into three transversal stripes: white , green and blue. The white color, on the left top, represents the snowy mountains, the green – in the middle – the woods and the hills, and the blue the sea of Abruzzo.

The coat of arms is red with an argent diagonal stripe and a eight-pointed star of the same in the corner.

The star was the symbol of the ancient province of “Molese”.

The coat of arms is white with a red diagonal stripe.

It is really the coat of arms of the ancient maritime republic, Amalfi.

The coat of arms is of sannitic shape azure with a red octagon surcharged by a smaller argent octagon with an olive tree in the middle in natural colors. The shield is surmounted by a golden crown. The olive tree represents the main agricultural product of the region, as well as a symbol of peace. The red octagon represents “ Castel del Monte” , a famous castle built by order of Federico II, (who is symbolized by the crown). The five green circles at the top of the shield represent the province of the region.

The coat of arms is a white field with four azure waves. The four waves represent the four major rivers of the region: Agri, Basento, Bradano and Sinni.

The coat of arms depicts four symbols. The pine is a typical tree of the woods of Sila. The column with a capital, on a wavy line, represents the Greek people, arrived from the sea. The Byzantine cross and the Catholic cross represent the meeting between the East and the West, which has been a characteristic in the history of the region.

The coat of arms is yellow and red, with a three-legged emblem charged with the head of a gorgon in flesh color.

The three legs joined in the centre are in reference to the triangular shape of the island.

The head of a Gorgon has two wings at her sides and hair is replaced by snakes.

Three heads of wheat recall that, in Roman times, Sicily was a very fertile land, nicknamed the “granary of Italy”.

The coat of Arms is white with a red cross and four moors heads in each canton. Around each head a white scarf is tied, with the knots behind the heads. They intend to represent Moorish kings defeated by the King of Aragon Peter I in the battle of Alcoraz(1096). The battle was won with the help of St. George, therefore the red cross, who abandoned on the battle field the heads of the four defeated Moorish kings.

The music of the Italian National Anthem was composed in 1847 by Michele Novaro, to words by the young poet and patriot, Goffredo Mameli, in a climate of popular struggle for unification and independence of Italy.

It became one of the most famous patriotic songs of the Risorgimento.

This song, known as the “L’Inno di Mameli” has been the National Anthem of the Republic of Italy since 1948.

Goffredo Mameli

Michele Novaro

The Italian National Anthem

The Italian Anthem, as performed in every official occasion, is composed by the first part and the chorus,

repeated twice, then ends with a loud “Si!” (Yes!)

Fratelli d'Italia, l'Italia s'è desta,

dell'elmo di Scipio s'è cinta la testa. Dov'è la Vittoria?

Le porga la chioma, che schiava di Roma

Iddio la creò. CORO:

Stringiamoci a coorte, Siam pronti alla morte. Siam pronti alla morte,

l'Italia chiamò. Stringiamoci a coorte, Siam pronti alla morte. Siam pronti alla morte,

l'Italia chiamò!

Brothers of Italy, Italy has awakened, with Scipio's helmet

She has bound her head. Where is Victory? Let her bow down,

For God has made her Rome's slave.

CHORUS: Let us join in cohort, We are ready to die! We are ready to die!

Italy has hailed! Let us join in cohort, We are ready to die! We are ready to die!

Italy has hailed!