Giro d'Italia 2021

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Re: Giro d'Italia 2021

Postby Chris Green » 20 May 2021, 09:53

Thursday's stage sets out from Siena, whose arms, known as the "balzana", date back to the 13th century, so old indeed that the reason for the design is the stuff of legend. It is said that the two sons of Remus, who had been killed by Romulus, fled from Rome on a black and a white horse, hence the colours of the shield. Hmm.

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The route heads due North, passing to the East of Florence (Firenze), whose arms feature the well-known Florentine lily, not to be confused with the fleur-de-lis. The blazon specifies an egg-shaped shield, though I have come across many examples of other shapes.

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Blazon: Scudo ovato d’argento, al giglio aperto e bottonato di rosso.


These arms are the Guelph version, post-1251. Until the Ghibellines were driven out the tinctures were the opposite: red field, white lily.

North of the old city of Florence, but still within its modern metropolitan boundaries, the riders pass through Sesto Fiorentino, whose arms are canting:

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Blazon: Partito di rosso e d’azzurro al compasso (sesto) d’oro con le punte rivolte in basso, posto sulla partitura.


The finish is at Bagno di Romagna, as it was for a stage of the 2017 Giro. I said then, and I find no reason now to correct myself: " whose arms, or variations of them, recur with tedious repetition throughout Italy (and beyond)".

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Blazon: D'argento, alla torre di due palchi, di rosso, mattonata di nero, merlata alla guelfa, il palco inferiore di cinque, quello superiore di quattro, il palco inferiore chiuso di nero, quello superiore finestrato di uno, dello stesso, essa torre fondata sulla pianura convessa, di verde.


It is amazing that the herald was prepared to go to such lengths to specify the details of the castle, but, when all was said and done, it was still just another castle.
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Re: Giro d'Italia 2021

Postby Chris Green » 21 May 2021, 10:58

Friday's stage is as flat as a pancake, scarcely a hill anywhere. Starting from Ravenna near the Adriatic coast and taking in Ferrara and Mantua (Mantova) the the North West, then turning North to Verona.

Ravenna has arms that only very subtly tell of its Guelphic past (one really has to read the blazon to spot it).

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Blazon: Partito di oro e di rosso, ai due leoni dell'uno nell'altro, controrampanti, affrontati ad un pino verde fruttato d'oro, sradicato posto sulla partizione. Corona turrita da città merlata alla guelfa con nel centro la Porta Aurea della città. Lo scudo sarà di forma sannitica a voluta gigliata e fregiato da ornamenti di Città con appesa per il suo nastro, sul decusse dei rami di quercia e di alloro, la Croce di Guerra. Intorno ai rami un nastro di rosso porpora con la scritta: "Felix Ravenna" nei due capi inferiori".


The corona civica is unique to Ravenna, not only specifically Guelphic, but featuring the city's (no longer extant) porta aurea (golden gate).

The tree with yellow fruit is specified as being a pine. Clearly not pineapple, nor lemon! I eventually found a pine tree that has cones that turn yellow.

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Ferrara has arms that are as simple as those of Siena. Indeed some might confuse the two.

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Blazon: Scudo troncato di nero e argento sormontato da corona ducale.


There must have seemed little point in having Ferrara's arms proclaim its Guelphic allegiance, since the Dukes from 1471-1570 were in fact the cadet line of the Welfs (the elder line being Dukes of Brunswick, later Electors of Hanover, and then Kings of Great Britain and Ireland).

Mantua proclaim's its Guelphic allegiance with the red cross on white ground. But sets itself apart by reminding the world that it was the birthplace of Publius Vergilius Maro (Virgil to us). It wasn't - he was born in a village 30 miles away.

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Blazon: D’argento alla croce piena di rosso accantonata alla destra del capo della testa di Virgilio al naturale posta di fronte, attorcigliata di un serto di alloro, con ornamenti esteriori da città.


Verona sports a cross in its arms too, but there seems to be no obvious reason why yellow on blue (I think we can rule out Swedish influence!).

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Blazon: D'azzurro alla croce d'oro.


Everyone knows of the English link to Verona through Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and Two Gentlemen of Verona. Though, despite all the efforts of researchers, no-one seems to know whether he had any link to the city or merely chose it at random. There was another, earlier Englishman whose name elicited fear and loathing among the Veronese: Sir John Hawkwood (Giovanni Acuto), the renowned condottiere, who destroyed a Veronese army at the Battle of Castagnaro on 11 March 1387.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Castagnaro

Hawkwood's arms were:

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Re: Giro d'Italia 2021

Postby Chris Green » 22 May 2021, 10:18

Unlike yesterday, Saturday's stage gets to be hilly, especially the long long climb to the finish. The cyclists start from Cittadella, North of Padua, built by the Paduans in 1220 to protect their northern flank from Treviso to the East. Specifically built as a fortress, as its name suggests, it wasn't simply a town with protective walls, more a fortress containing a town. Logically, Cittadella's arms proclaim its fortifications (I know I've complained more than once about the number of Italian civic arms featuring a castle, but this one at least looks different, and given the name of the town one really cannot expect anything else.)

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Blazon: Di rosso, al castello addestrato da una torre, merlati entrambi alla guelfa, aperto e finestrato del campo; sinistrato da una bandiera d'oro. Ornamenti esteriori da Comune.


I am becoming convinced that the organisers of the Giro arrange the routes just to try my patience! The next town is Caneva, whose arms, naturally, feature a castle. So no picture of that then! :x Let's try the next town: Meduno. Now here the remains of the castle have been ignored in favour of the nearby Torrente Meduna, a river that, if the satellite pictures are anything to go by, must indeed be a raging torrent in Spring, but scarcely a trickle in Summer.

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Blazon: Troncato: nel primo, d'oro, al leone di rosso, afferrante con la zampa anteriore sinistra il ramo di ulivo, di verde, posta di banda, e accompagnato nel canton sinistro del capo della mezzaluna montante, di azzurro; nel secondo, di azzurro, all'uomo ignudo, di caranagione, simboleggiante il fiume Meduna, con la testa in maestà, capelluta e barbuta di nero, e il tronco leggermente volto verso il fianco destro, seduto sul terreno collinoso, di verde, fondato in punta, esso terreno sostenente la cornucopia d'oro, su cui è appoggiata la mano destra dell'uomo e da cui scorre verso la punta il fiume ondeggiante, di azzurro.


Shortly before the beginning of the final climb the race passes Arta Terme whose arms confirm its allegiance to Venice, though oddly the lion is specified in the blazon as lacking a halo.

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Blazon: Partito: al primo d'azzurro troncato da un filetto di nero; sopra il destrocherio vestito di marrone, tenente un giglio al naturale; sotto tre stelle d'argento disposte due-uno; al secondo di rosso al leone di San Marco d'oro senza aureola.


Note that the line of partition between Q1 and Q3 is actually blazoned as a fillet, and that the arm in Q1 is "marrone" i.e. brown.

The stage finishes (nearly) atop Monte Zoncolan, as it has several times before, last in 2018 when Chris Froome won. As I said then, the mountain doesn't run to its own coat of arms, so here are the arms of the Friuli-Venezia-Giulia region. Note that the eagle stands on a a turreted, not a mural crown.

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Blazon: Scudo d’azzurro all’aquila d’oro al volo spiegato, in profilo a destra, reggente tra gli artigli una corona turrita d’argento.
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Re: Giro d'Italia 2021

Postby Chris Green » 23 May 2021, 11:00

Sunday's stage takes the riders eventually into Croatia. The start is at the coastal resort of Grado at the head of the Adriatic. I'll let you have the blazon and leave you to work out why I haven't bothered with an emblazonment. Grado was apparently sacked by the British in 1810, during the Napoleonic wars.

Di rosso alla torre d’argento di due palchi, murata di rosso, merlata alla ghibellina, il primo palco di cinque merli, il secondo di tre, aperta e finestrata di due del campo. Ornamenti esteriori di città.


Riding North, the riders come to Cervignano del Friuli the dexter half of whose arms are intended to be canting (deer = cervus in Latin). In fact the town's name came from that of a Roman family, Cervenius, The anchor in the sinister half (rendered in the emblazonment more like a grappling hook) reflects the town's former importance as a river port.

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I can't find the Italian blazon, but it must surely describe the deer as "proper".

Travelling North-East the stage arrives at Mariano del Friuli, whose arms, featuring crossed scythe blades and bees, may suggest a former industry. The field vert is unusual for Italian civic arms.

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Shortly thereafter the route crosses the border into Slovenia, in particular the wine region of Goriška brda (Collio Goriziano in Italian) from which the municipality of Brda gets its name, and the dexter half of its coat of arms.

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The finish is back across the border (just) in Gorizia, having passed through the Slovenian Nova Gorica, a result of the post-WW2 dispute between Italy and Yugoslavia over just where the border should be. I'll let Gorizia off with having a castle in its arms, since the place originated as a watchtower guarding the strategic ford over the River Isonzo.

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Nova Gorica, in keeping with its post-WW2 communist origins, has a logo rather than a coat of arms. After staring at it for a while, I have concluded that it depicts a red rose seen from the side. There are many worse logos than this. Indeed I can think of many coats of arms that are worse too!

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Re: Giro d'Italia 2021

Postby Iain Boyd » 23 May 2021, 22:33

Dear Chris,

Just because you do not like the large number of Italian coats of arms which include only a castle or a fortified tower is no reason for not including an illustration in your very interesting series.

Sorry!

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Re: Giro d'Italia 2021

Postby Chris Green » 24 May 2021, 11:24

Since Mr Boyd considers that I am failing in my duty by not posting pictures of all the arms with castles, I am (reluctantly) including the arms of today's (Monday's) starting point - Sacile, North of Venice.

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I can't find a blazon for these arms with their rather grand castle - no simple tower here! The problem is that there seems never to have been a castle at Sacile, which was built on two islands on the River Livenza. The araldicacivica.it website says quite a lot - in Italian.

Lo stemma del Comune mostra una figurazione simbolica dell’antico borgo fortificato, del quale rimangono alcune tracce, sormontato da un capo con la croce rossa detta di San Giorgio (che non è il patrono della città, essendo quello San Nicolò di Myra) in campo d’argento: lo stemma crociato è quello “antico” della città (da notare che i colori sono invertiti rispetto a quelli della vicina Treviso e identici a quelli di Padova) che compariva anche nel sigillo civico ai piedi di un generico castello, rappresentante la città. Il governo asburgico concesse poi lo stemma ricavato dal sigillo, dove il castello divenne l’emblema principale, mentre lo stemma antico andò ad occupare la parte superiore dello scudo (capo).


The writer doesn't seem to make a connection between the red cross on white ground and a Guelphic allegiance.

Cycling North-West the riders pass through Belluno, whose arms feature a cross or on a field azure, like Verona, though it became a possession of Venice at the beginning of the 15th century.

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Blazon: D’azzurro, alla croce d’oro, accantonata nei primi due quartieri, da due draghi alati, affrontati, di rosso sormontato dalla corona di Città.


The finish, after much struggle through the mountains, is at Cortina d'Ampezzo, where the Winter Olympics were held in 1956 and will again (with Milan) in 2026. The arms feature ... a tower. Interestingly, this tower is flanked by two pine trees linked by a chain. I can only guess that the narrow roads through the valley were protected not only by the tower called Castello di Botestagno, now just a pile of stones, but by chains that could be drawn across the roads as a barrier to cavalry, just as several ports once had chains that could close off the entrance.

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Blazon: Campo di cielo, alla torre quadrata merlata alla ghibellina; d’oro, coperta di rosso, murata, aperta e finestrata di nero, caricata di due rami di pino, al naturale, posti in croce di S. Andrea; la torre addestrata e sinistrata da due pini al naturale, riuniti da una catena di ferro; il tutto su campagna erbosa di verde. Motto: MODO VIVO AC TUTA QUIESCO.


Once again the artist has interpreted "campo di cielo" not simply as bleu celeste, but as a sky with clouds. I wonder when this interpretation started.
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Re: Giro d'Italia 2021

Postby Chris Green » 26 May 2021, 10:47

Tuesday was a rest day. Today, Wednesday, the race is into the Dolomites, starting at Canazei and travelling South-West towards Lake Garda. The arms of Canazei provide us with an unusual stance for an animal. Here the chamois is "allerta", ready to flee.

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Blazon: D'azzurro al monte roccioso d'argento fondato su una campagna di verde, caricato di un camoscio di nero nella posizione d'allerta.


The race passes through Trento, a city of which generations of students studying the Reformation and Counter-Reformation are aware (Council of Trent 1545-63), but precious few could pin-point on a map. Trento was an important part of the lands of the Counts of Tyrol and thus part of Austria until the end of World War 1. The spread-eagle in the arms is known as the eagle of St Wenceslas and in early times was covered in flames, but now only with three flames on the breast. The arms were granted as long ago as 1339 by blind King John of Bohemia (he who died at the Battle of Crécy, 1346). They were the arms of the Premyslid dynasty of Kings of Bohemia (the dynasty that preceded that of Luxemburg of which King John was the first member).

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Blazon: D'argento, all'aquila spiegata di nero, rostrata, armata e munita sulle ali di due gambi trifogliati d'oro, linguata e cosparsa di fiammelle di rosso.


The next place of any size is Mori whose arms are canting.

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Blazon: D'argento al moro al naturale, fruttifero di nero, radicato in campagna di verde.


The "moro" is the black mulberry tree.

The finish is at Sega di Ala, to the East of Malcesine on Lake Garda (we have been there for a holiday and can highly recommend it). "Sega" means "saw", so I am guessing at some rather pointy mountain tops. The commune is called Ala, and again its arms are canting.

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"Ala" means wing. In Roman times cavalry was organised in alae, which was appropriate since they were typically deployed on the wings of the army.
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Re: Giro d'Italia 2021

Postby Chris Green » 27 May 2021, 08:04

Today, Thursday, the race starts just to the East of the top end of Lake Garda at Rovereto, whose arms are again canting. The name means "oak wood", and here we have an oak tree (Quercus Robur), sadly eradicated. The letters C R presumably stand for "Città Rovereto".

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Blazon: D'oro alla rovere sradicata e fruttata, al naturale, accostata dalle lettere maiuscole in oro C R.


The route is pretty much flat and south-westerly in direction, passing Verona to the West and eventually coming to Cremona in the valley of the River Po. Perhaps one shouldn't talk about Cremona's arms, rather about Cremona's arm. Legend has it that in the 11th century the Gonfaloniere, Giovanni Baldesio, defeated Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV in a mounted duel and won for the city relief from the annual tax of a gold ball weighing 3kg/7lb.

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Blazon: Partito: al primo fasciato di rosso e d'argento; il secondo di azzurro al braccio vestito di rosso e d'argento stringente nella mano una palla d'oro. Corona gemmata a cinque fioroni.


Towards the end of the stage the riders pass through the village of Castana, another commune with canting arms.

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Blazon: Tagliato: il PRIMO, di azzurro, al riccio di castagno, aperto, fruttato di uno, unito al ramoscello in fascia, il tutto al naturale e fogliato all’insù di tre, di verde; il SECONDO, d’oro, al grappolo d’uva, di porpora, pampinoso di tre, di verde. Ornamenti esteriori da Comune.


The unusual charge in the dexter half is a sweet chestnut (castanea sativa).

The finish is at Stradella whose arms are very simple. Apparently the oval shape of the shield and the border of pearls are traditional.

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Blazon: D'azzurro alla croce d'argento.
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Re: Giro d'Italia 2021

Postby Chris Green » 28 May 2021, 07:57

Today, Friday, the Giro starts from Abbiategrasso on the western outskirts of Milan. The arms of Abbiategrasso are simply a lion rampant or on a field azure. But there are two very minor features that make it different.

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Blazon: D'azzurro al leone d'oro, lampassato di rosso, coronato all'antica del secondo.


For some reason the lion is langued, but not armed, gules, and the antique crown hovers above the lion's head like a medieval drone.

The riders head West to Novara, whose arms tell of its Ghibelline past. I wonder how many Italian communities have Gules a Cross Argent, or Argent a Cross Gules? There must be dozens.

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Blazon: Di rosso alla croce d’argento.


After Novara the route heads North-West towards the Alps, passing Baveno on the shores of Lake Maggiore. Near the town are the quarries that provided the red granite for the columns of Milan cathedral and many other important buildings. Not surprisingly, this is celebrated in the town's arms, though to do so the herald drove a coach and horses through the tincture "rule".

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Blazon: D’azzurro, alla cava di granito roseo declinante in banda e a una colonna dello stesso granito, uscente dalla punta ed attraversante in palo accompagnata nei cantoni destro e sinistro del capo dalle scritte: Forza e Virtù.


The race ends at Alpe di Mera in the commune of Scopello, which does have a coat of arms, but the only version I can find is tiny. So here are the arms of the province of Vercelli instead. The blazon must surely contain more numbers than any other

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Blazon: D’azzurro, al braccio con la mano movente dalla punta impugnante una spada in palo, il tutto d’argento, circondato da trentasei stelle d’oro, poste 1-2-3-3-3-3-2-1 a destra e 1-2-3-3-3-3-2-1 poste a sinistra. Ornamenti esteriori da Provincia.
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Re: Giro d'Italia 2021

Postby Chris Green » 29 May 2021, 10:38

Friday's stage is the last but one. Will young Egan Bernal of Colombia hold on? He has worn the Maglia Rosa (and the Maglia Bianca for young riders) for 11 stages, but has looked vulnerable at times.

The race starts from the shores of Lake Maggiore at Verbania, a commune that has only existed since 1939, when Pallanza and Intra were amalgamated. Its arms are those formerly used by Intra. Here the capo d'imperio has become half of the arms. I note with a shudder that a local speciality is mint-flavoured beer. :shock:

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Blazon: Troncato: al 1° d’oro all’aquila reale di nero coronato dello stesso; al 2° d’argento all’albero di quercia al naturale poggiante su una campagna di verde. Corona comitale.


The arms of Intra were formally granted to the new commune on 8 April 1944, while the area was under the rule of the Fascist Repubblica Sociale Italiana.

The race follows the lakeside road into Switzerland at the town of Brissago (not to be confused with the Italian town of Brissago Valtravaglia on the other side of the lake), whose arms look as though they should be English - not only the cross of St George but the saint himself in dexter chief. Or is it St Michael? Sadly I can find no blazon to give us the answer. The parish church is dedicated to SS Peter and Paul, so that doesn't give us a clue.

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Next comes Locarno, the lion rampant in whose arms has been given a modern treatment.

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Apart from tourism, Locarno is best known for its annual film festival these days. In the inter-war period its name was associated with the international treaties negotiated there in 1925. These were supposed to remove any casus belli in Europe, and resulted in Germany joining the League of Nations in 1926. Germany effectively tore up the Locarno treaties by annexing the demilitarised Rhinelend in 1936. Serving as I did for many years in the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, I was of course vaguely aware that our Whitehall HQ, the magnificent Gilbert Scott building, contained something called the Locarno Suite. But as the three large rooms were subdivided into tatty offices during WW2 for the use of the cypher clerks, and later accommodated the Legal Advisers, I and thousands of my colleagues were astounded to find in 1990, that following a multi-million pound refurbishment, the FCO was in fact possessed of palatial entertainment and conference facilities. These rooms, already shabby post WW1, had been hastily tidied up to serve as the venue for the signature of the Locarno Treaties in December 1925, an event then considered of such importance that the rooms were done up and named in its honour.

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But back to cycling and heraldry!

The stage, which has so far been a pleasant undulating road gradually begins to climb, and climb, and climb, eventually reaching the St Bernard Pass. But that is just the first hill. Then there is Splügenpass (Passo dello Spluga). Not content with that, the organisers have arranged the finish to be at Alpe Motta, which is in the commune of Madesimo. Madesimo's arms are to be found on its website and also in Wikipedia, but not :o in Heraldry of the World (All Hail to Heraldry of the World! - but not in this case). I think we get the point(s) of these arms.

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The araldicacivica.it website gives an entirely different coat of arms that plays fast and loose with the tincture "rule". Perhaps some kind heraldist pointed this out and provided an alternative, though the "pointy" arms are just as bad from the tincture perspective.

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