Symbology

We present a brief overview of the main Granlombard emblems and banners, both of ethnic Lombardy and of Great Lombardy, with the aim of honoring the ethnocultural and historical heritage of the Lombard peoples.

Nazione Lombarda focuses more on the shared ethnic heritage of the Lombardies than on regional particularism—on the Lombard identity that unites—but nonetheless also defends and promotes the safeguarding of the local specificities of each territorial subdivision, free from useless parochialism or ridiculous micro-chauvinisms.

The same reasoning applies here to the linguistic question: we seek to preserve natural variety while at the same time promoting pan-Lombard awareness that leads to territorial unification under the aegis of lombardesimo (and, in linguistic terms, of classical vernacular Milanese, the foremost of our idioms), starting, of course, from ethnic Lombardy.

Here is our proposal for a pan-Lombard banner, both ethnic and Granlombard: a flag that unites, by merging them, the Guelph Cross of Saint George (formerly the flag of Milan and of the Lombard League) with the Ghibelline Cross of Saint John the Baptist (formerly the flag of Pavia and of the army of the Holy Roman Empire). These two Crosses are widespread throughout the cities of Great Lombardy for historical reasons and therefore best represent the souls of our land: the communal one, that is, the particular, and the imperial one, that is, the universal (obviously in a European sense). United, they form the Granlombard national identity, crowned by the Camunian swastika placed at the center, emblem of lombardesimo. The white-and-red color scheme is also very common in the Alpine-Padan lands, as well as in other regions of south-central Europe.

An irreplaceable emblem of Lombard identity is the Visconti Ducal banner, traditionally associated with Insubria (western Transpadane Lombardy). We interpret it as a Granlombard coat of arms, which admirably combines the symbol par excellence of our people—the Celto-Longobard Biscione—with the Latin-Germanic symbol of the Imperial Eagle, that is, of the highest and noblest Europe in which we recognize ourselves and of which Lombardy is a worthy part (the Carolingian space). Our land is in fact a point of connection between the Mediterranean world and Mitteleuropa, historically situated at the heart of the continent.

A symbol of western Transpadane Lombardy (Insubria) is the Scrofa semilanuta, a Gallic emblem dating back to the time of Bellovesus and the sacred foundation of Milan (which also includes the federal sanctuary dedicated to Belisama, located where the Duomo now stands; the Madonnina is, not by chance, reminiscent of that goddess, as well as of the Roman Minerva). The boar is a classic totemic animal of the Celts.

As an emblem of eastern Transpadane Lombardy (the so-called Orobia), we have chosen the Camunian solar wheel in its swastika form, a left-turning symbol taken from the rock engravings of Val Camonica, which has also been adopted by Paolo Sizzi as the emblem of lombardesimo. It is certainly a nobler variant than the infamous Camunian rose, thanks to its clear solar and astral reference and to the sacred Indo-European color scheme. In this case, we have aligned the cup-marks to form a Greek cross, thus referring to the Lombard Crosses and to the Aryan-European solar disc.

A classic emblem of subalpine Lombardy (the so-called Piedmont, or more properly Taurasia) is the Drapò, the flag bearing the Cross of Saint John the Baptist with blue ornamentation, a remembrance of the ancient Duchy of Savoy.

The Este Eagle, of the ancient Duchy of Modena and Reggio, may represent Cispadane Lombardy (the so-called Emilia, or Boica). This banner is connected to the Longobard origins of the Este family, who descended from the Obertenghi, medieval lords of western Great Lombardy.

The Cross of Saint George became a famous symbol primarily thanks to Genoa and republican Liguria, the Genoese state, and secondarily thanks to Milan and the Lombard League, even though it is more commonly associated with England. Although this banner is unequivocally linked to Christianity and Guelphism, it is worth recalling that Saint George was a warrior figure particularly dear to the Longobards, together of course with Saint Michael. Its opposite, namely the Ghibelline Cross of Saint John the Baptist, instead derives from the imperial Blutfahne, the war banner of the Holy Roman Empire.

For Romagna (or Senonia), we view positively this red-and-gold bipartition—Roman and imperial colors—which serves as the background for the rooster and the caveja, two classic Romagnol symbols: the rooster is a solar and totemic animal of the Senonian Gauls, while the latter is a steel rod driven into the yoke pole of the carts of Romandiola drawn by oxen, accompanied by several traditional ornaments of pagan or Christian origin.

The famous Lion of Saint Mark, banner of Veneto and earlier of the Serenissima, in the version with the closed book and the drawn sword, symbolizing, as it were, the end of Christian and Italian obscurantism and the need for the Lombardies to return to fighting for the defense of their true identity and of their lands.

The Flaming Eagle of Saint Wenceslaus represents Cisalpine Raetia (that is, Trentino–Alto Adige), an ancient medieval symbol formerly used as the banner of the Prince-Bishopric of Trent. We are not, in principle, hostile to the German-speaking South Tyroleans, but as Lombards we defend the Raetian, Romance, and Celto-Germanic heritage of what is properly the historical Tyrol, that is, its southern portion—without forgetting, of course, our Ladin brothers.

For Friuli (or Carnia), we consider the ancient banner of the Patriarchate of Aquileia to be appropriate, traditionally featuring a blue field; in order to distinguish it from the Este banner of Cispadane Lombardy, we would opt for the presumed war version of the Friulian flag, in which the eagle stands on a red field.

Finally, for historical Venezia Giulia (which we refer to as Istria), we present the classic symbol of the Istrian goat, a very ancient emblem dating back to Roman times and representing a crossroads territory between Venetians, Illyrians, and Celts.

It is worth recalling that these regional insignia constitute a tribute to the historical identity of the major Lombard subdivisions. However, we Lombardists favor a cantonal division of Granlombard territory, and in this sense each administrative entity would have its own coat of arms, fundamentally derived from the emblems of the capital city or from some historical blazon.