Giro d'Italia 2018

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JMcMillan
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Re: Giro d'Italia 2018

Postby JMcMillan » 10 May 2018, 14:09

Arthur Radburn wrote:It was the former. King Ferdinand I decreed in 1816 that : "Our coat of arms will be decorated not only with our royal orders of S Gennaro, of S Ferdinando and of Merit, and of Constantine St George, but also with the Golden Fleece, the Conception and the Holy Spirit."


Oh dear. Well, I guess there was just a bit of inferiority complex at work after all. My apologies to Wikipedia participants with fevered imaginations.
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Re: Giro d'Italia 2018

Postby Chris Green » 11 May 2018, 08:20

The Giro has now crossed the Straits of Messina and starts today (Friday) from Pizzo, perhaps best known for having been the place where the Napoleonic King of Naples, Marshal Joachim Murat, brother-in-law of Napoleon, was executed on 13 October 1815. The only image of its arms I can discover is this rather nasty rendering:

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Travelling northwards along the coast, the cyclists pass through Santa Maria del Cedro whose very unheraldic arms, unsurprisingly, feature the Virgin Mary, but also a strange looking fruit which also appears in the wreath. This is the diamante citron or esrog/etrog (used by Jews at the Feast of Tabernacles).

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The finishing line is at Praia a Mare whose arms also feature the Virgin, but in this case hovering over a landscape rendition of the well known cave complex containing the church of Madonna del Grotta.

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For a discussion of the arms of Calabria, I refer you to the thread for the 2016 Giro: http://amateurheralds.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=1091&start=40
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Re: Giro d'Italia 2018

Postby Chris Green » 12 May 2018, 08:54

DISASTER! I SOMEHOW FOUND MYSELF ON THE WRONG PAGE OF THE GIRO SITE. STAGE 12 ISN'T UNTIL NEXT THURSDAY!!
SORRY ABOUT THAT. NORMAL SERVICE WILL BE RESUMED NOW MY SENIOR MOMENT HAS BEEN DISCOVERED.


Stage 12 sees the Giro moving up the east coast of Italy, starting in Osimo, via Pesaro and Forlí to Imola, home of the famous race track.

Osimo's arms drive the proverbial coach and horses through the tincture "rule" and require a particularly complex blazon for what is, at first sight a relatively simple coat of arms.

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Blazon:
Di azzurro, al castello di cinque torri, di rosso, mattonato di nero, merlato alla guelfa, le torri ognuna di cinque, il fastigio di venticinque, la torre centrale più alta e più larga, le torri intermedie di altezza e larghezza mediane, le torri laterali strette e di minore altezza, la torre centrale finestrata di due in palo, di nero, le altre finestrate di uno, dello stesso; esso castello chiuso di nero e accompagnato da due leoni illeoparditi, d’oro, affrontati, posti in punta. Sotto lo scudo, su lista bifida e svolazzante di azzurro, il motto, in lettere maiuscole di nero, VETUS AUXIMON. Ornamenti esteriori da Città.


Pesaro's arms are capped with an unusual crest. Is it a bishop's mitre?

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Blazon:
D'azzurro alla rovere d'oro con i rami incrociantisi in decusse, attraversata nel tronco da due fedi di carnagione, manicate di rosso. disposte una su l'altra, e da un listello caricato del motto "Perpetua et firma fidelitas"; alla campagna inquartata di argento e di rosso.


The tree, with its interwoven branches comes from the arms of the della Rovere family who ruled Pesaro in the 16th and 17th centuries:

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Forlí seems at first glance to have the arms of a rugby club, though the ovals are not rugby balls but "scudetti" (small shields):

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Blazon:
D'oro, all'aquila dal volo spiegato di nero, coronata e membrata del campo, tenente nell'artiglio destro uno scudetto ovale di rosso, alla croce d'argento, posto in banda, e con il sinistro, uno scudetto pure ovale, posta in sbarra, d'argento alla fascia dello stesso bordata, con il motto "Libertas", il tutto di nero.

Note that the eagle is crowned and membered "of the field" which has forced the artist to use yellow for the field and gold for the crown etc.

LATER ADDITION: I should have remembered that the Giro passed this way last year and I was able to provide additional information about the "rugby balls", viz: The arms at first glance suggest a love of rugby football, but in fact convey two political messages. Mr McM's explanation of the Guelph/Ghibbeline rivalry suggests that Forlí was once an imperial supporter and indeed the original arms were granted by Emperor Frederick II for the town's assistance in the capture of neighbouring Faenza, and Forli was the last bastion of support in Italy for the Hohenstaufens. The dexter "rugby ball" denotes Savoy and the sinister the love of liberty, both indicating the town's support for "risorgimento" and Garibaldi.

Imola, now part of the Metropolitan City of Bologna, is more than just the Formula 1 racing circuit. It was an important fief of both the Viscontis and the Sforzas.

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Blazon:
Partito: nel primo di azzurro, alla banda d’argento, caricata della parola “LIBERTAS” in lettere romane maiuscole di nero; nel secondo di rosso, al grifo coronato d’oro, impugnante colla destra anteriore una spada d’argento posta in palo. Capo di Angiò. Ornamenti esteriori di Città.


The "Capo di Angiò" refers to the chief "of Anjou", the arms of the Capetian House of Anjou being:

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It was used to signify the allegiance of the city to the Guelph party.
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Re: Giro d'Italia 2018

Postby Chris Green » 12 May 2018, 12:45

Today (Saturday) the Giro starts from Praia a Mare where it finished yesterday, and continues northwards to Salerno, a name well-known to students of the Italian campaign of World War II. The finish is at Montevergine di Mercogliano.

Salerno's arms feature St Matthew, whose putative remains are revered in the crypt of the cathedral having supposedly been brought to the city in 954 AD.

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The barry or/gules probably refers to the long period of dominion by Aragon and Spain.

Mercogliano does not seem to boast a coat of arms. The arms of the Province of Avellino, in which the commune lies are simple:

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Blazon:
Spaccato al 1º di rosso alla corona d'oro gemmata e cimata da quattro fioroni dello stesso (tre visibili), bottonati da una perla, sostenuti da punte, al 2º d'argento.
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Re: Giro d'Italia 2018

Postby Chris Green » 13 May 2018, 08:30

Sunday's stage leaves the coast behind and takes the riders northwards up the spine of Italy (or perhaps more appropriately the tibia). The start line is at Pesca Sannita a small commune with arms depicting a rampant lion perched precariously on a mountain:

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Pesca Sannita is situated in the province of Benevento whose arms are:

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Blazon:
D'azzurro, al toro furioso al naturale, rivoltato. (Capo del Littorio). Ornamenti esteriori da Provincia.


The blazon is from 1938, when all civic arms would have had the "Capo del Littorio" (crossed fasces) behind the shield in the Italian Fascist manner. Unlike the swastika the fasces have survived their fascist links and are still to be found in many arms, architectural features, seals etc often in connection with the administration of justice.

The finish is at the Campo Imperatore in the Gran Sasso which is in the L'Aquila region, whose arms are very simple:

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As I suggested when the Giro passed this way in 2016:

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.


Campo Imperatore hosts an outpost of the Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma.
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Re: Giro d'Italia 2018

Postby JMcMillan » 13 May 2018, 14:11

Chris Green wrote:Pesca Sannita
Blazon:
D'azzurro, al toro furioso al naturale, rivoltato. (Capo del Littorio). Ornamenti esteriori da Provincia.

The blazon is from 1938, when all civic arms would have had the "Capo del Littorio" (crossed fasces) behind the shield in the Italian Fascist manner.


Not crossed behind the shield, but as a chief added to the shield itself, in emulation of the Guelph and Ghibelline chiefs of history.

Image
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Re: Giro d'Italia 2018

Postby Chris Green » 13 May 2018, 14:53

Not crossed behind the shield, but as a chief added to the shield itself, in emulation of the Guelph and Ghibelline chiefs of history.


Of course, silly me. Capo means chief. That's what comes of doing a thread like this without an adequate knowledge of Italian.
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Re: Giro d'Italia 2018

Postby Chris Green » 15 May 2018, 12:41

Tuesday's stage, the longest in this year's Giro, starts at Penne in the Abruzzo and makes its way northwards across the Apennines to Gualdo Tadino.

The only image of Penne's arms I can find is this, with what I thought first were flames issuing from two towers, but have since concluded are wings:

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The arms of Gualdo Tardino are very simple:

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Blazon:
D’argento alle tre bande di rosso” timbrato da una corona civica del rango di Comune e da un serto formato da un ramo di quercia e uno d’alloro legati da un nastro nei colori dello scudo.
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Re: Giro d'Italia 2018

Postby Chris Green » 16 May 2018, 10:49

Today (Wednesday) sees the 11th stage of the Giro, starting from Assisi and heading for Osimo. Assisi's arms are:

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Assisi is home to a particularly colourful "Calendimaggio" festival, the city streets being bedecked with flags. There are parades, competitions (including crossbow shooting) and religious services.

http://tmealf.com/assisi.htm

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Note that the city's arms as shown on the banner include a base vert under the lion rampant. I have yet to work out if those are the current arms or the ones illustrated above.

The arms of Osimo you will see tomorrow, as stage 12 starts from there. (You may well already have seen them, as Thursday's stage got dealt with last week by mistake - I'll move the post to the correct place tomorrow!)
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Re: Giro d'Italia 2018

Postby GSelvester » 16 May 2018, 15:22

Chris Green wrote:
I am still puzzling over what the "A" could stand for.



The "A" stands for Saint Agatha, the patroness of the city and the saint whose feast is celebrated annually not once, but twice (February and August). The February Festa di Sant'Agata is one of the biggest religious festivals in the world.


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