Giro d'Italia 2016

The heraldry of Italy
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JMcMillan
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Re: Giro d'Italia 2016

Postby JMcMillan » 11 May 2016, 13:30

Chris Green wrote:Moreover laurel disappeared from the Mediterranean basin 10,000 years ago.


But this wouldn't preclude its retaining its symbolic significance, and in any case isn't bay laurel still cultivated in the region, even if the wild forests have disappeared?

(This, of course, doesn't explain the color of the berries.)
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Re: Giro d'Italia 2016

Postby JMcMillan » 11 May 2016, 14:12

Digging a little, there's a website on Italian civic heraldry, www.araldicacivica.it, with a dictionary that says a wreath of laurel and oak is the normal decoration of the arms of Italian civic arms. But it also says the laurel is supposed to be fructed gold.

It would seem likely that the arms with wreathes showing red berries are intended to represent olives, given that ripening olives pass through a stage when they are red or reddish purple.

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Re: Giro d'Italia 2016

Postby Chris Green » 11 May 2016, 16:54

Tomorrow's stage departs from Ponte and makes its way to Roccaraso in the province of L'Aquila (the Eagle) in the Abruzzo region.

The arms of L'Aquila province are:

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Not surprising to find an eagle, not least because the area is home to many Golden Eagles. This one is perched on a tremount which represents the three highest peaks of the Appennines: Gran Sasso, Maiella and Velino-Sirente.

The capital of L'Aquila is the city of .... L'Aquila, whose arms, in addition to the obligatory bird of prey, include the motto: Immota Manet (Remain Unmoved) and the letters PHS. The motto is apparently attributed to the 16th century humanist Salvatore Massonio, who came from L'Aquila, but he was quoting Vergil: "Mens immota manet, lachrimae vulvuntur inanes." (Aeneid IV 449).

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As for PHS, I am (currently) stumped.

The arms of Abruzzo region are simple and traditional, though I suspect not of any great vintage:

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as one-third of Abruzzo is a national park "the greenest region in Europe", a mountainous area in the west and a coastal area in the east bordering on the Adriatic. One's imagination is not challenged by the idea that the argent represents the mountains, the vert the national park and the azure the Adriatic.
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Re: Giro d'Italia 2016

Postby Chris Green » 12 May 2016, 19:33

Friday's stage starts from Sulmona (Roman Sulmo) and proceeds via L'Aquila (mentioned in my last post) and Spoleto to Foligno.

Sulmona's CoA is a nightmare for those who cannot abide letters of the alphabet in heraldry:

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SMPE stands for "Sulmo mihi patria est" ("Sulmo is my native land" or "Sulmo is the land of my fathers") The Roman poet Ovid was born in Sulmo.

Any English person should immediately feel at home in Spoleto. whose arms include not only the cross of St George, but the saint himself astride a charger:

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Re: Giro d'Italia 2016

Postby Chris Green » 12 May 2016, 19:39

At present I am having trouble making posts that take time to compose. The server keeps timing me out. Hope to be able to conquer this and continue with the Giro route.

(Sunday AM) The problem may have solved itself. We shall see.
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Re: Giro d'Italia 2016

Postby Chris Green » 15 May 2016, 08:01

Sorry about the break in transmission. Don't know what was wrong.

Yesterday's stage was from Foligno to Arezzo.

I am not sure if Foligno's arms have the cross in a quarter or a canton:

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Arezzo's arms have a stallion rampant sinister sable, which distinguishes it from the logo of the Ferrari sports car manufacturer which has its black stallion facing the usual way:

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Arezzo is in the province of Toscana (Tuscany), which also features a sinister-facing rampant horse in its arms, in this case winged and argent:

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Re: Giro d'Italia 2016

Postby Chris Green » 15 May 2016, 08:20

Sunday's stage is called the "Chianti Classico" stage and, as you have probably guessed, wends its way through the countryside that grows the vines that make the grapes that become ... Chianti. The province isn't called "Chiantishire" as some Brits believe. It is in fact Siena, whose arms do not feature vines or wine barrels, just a lion and an ancient crown:

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The stage starts from Radda in Chianti, the only image of whose arms I could find was rather small:

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The trees seem to be Lombardy Poplars.

The destination is Greve in Chianti whose arms bear a Paschal Lamb, or Agnus Dei:

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Re: Giro d'Italia 2016

Postby Chris Green » 16 May 2016, 08:13

Monday is a rest day for the Giro. Tomorrow the start line is at Campi Bisenzio in the Province of Firenze (Florence) in the region of Toscana (Tuscany).

Campi Bisenzio's arms are:

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Campi Bisenzio is where, arguably, the first internal combustion engine was built (patented in London in 1854).

The arms of the province of Firenze are:

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whereas those of the city of Firenze are:

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The finishing line is at Sestola in the province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region.

Sestola's arms:

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The arms of the province of Modena are:

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I cannot work out what the implements are in saltire behind the cross (cork-screws?), nor whether the cross is meant to look like that or whether it is artistic.

Emilia-Romagna has eschewed heraldry and relies on a logo:

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Torsten Laneryd
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Re: Giro d'Italia 2016

Postby Torsten Laneryd » 16 May 2016, 09:25

Chris Green wrote:
I cannot work out what the implements are in saltire behind the cross (cork-screws?),

According to other arms from Modena they are two drills for geological inspection.

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Re: Giro d'Italia 2016

Postby Arthur Radburn » 16 May 2016, 10:28

Chris Green wrote:I am not sure if Foligno's arms have the cross in a quarter or a canton:

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Apparently neither. According to the municipality's website ( http://www.comune.foligno.pg.it/categorie/142 ), as translated by Google, this is a marshalling of two coats of arms. The Argent section would thus be the upper half of a shield divided per fess.
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