OFF THE BEATEN PATH
The Very Green of the Italian Flag
Do you know the colors of the Italian flag and their meaning? Many maintain that Italian “fern green”, “bright white” and “flame scarlet” take their origins back in the Napoleon age and the French blue-white-red tricolor. And yet, why would the French blue be ever replaced by the Italian green?
Does it represent the very Italian lettuce that matches perfectly with white mozzarella and red tomatoes? Does it want to remind us of traditional grapevines and secular olive giants that since always have been procuring such irreplaceable traditional delights as wine and olive oil? Is it all about dolce vita, traditional values and country side lifestyles still in vogue nowadays? Or, more simply, does this verde speranza aim to recall unforgettable landscapes of Italy blooming all over the country, between snow-covered mountain peak and blue seas?
No one will ever know the answer nor the very motivation of those who has invented the Italian tricolor. And yet, travelling all along this wonderful peninsula some ideas spontaneously come into our mind regarding this Italian green. Is it even possible that all these hills, trails, ancient walls entirely overgrown by grapes and ivy and even new skyscrapers that look rather like vertical forests have nothing to do with the Flag? I don’t think so.
Enjoy the green slideshow with beautiful views of Montevecchia Regional Park and Curone Valley, near to Milan.
Maria Novozhilova
e-mail: novozhilovam.blog@gmail.com
twitter: @NovozhilovaM
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