Coats of Arms - Florence, Italy
Posted by: 
marcius
N 43° 46.160 E 011° 15.360
32T E 681574 N 4848726
The emblem of Florence, a red lily on a white field on the wall of the Palazzo Vecchio.
Waymark Code: WMNDG4
Location: Italy
Date Posted: 02/21/2015
Views: 11
The emblem of Florence, a red lily on a white field, called “fleur de lis flowered” is the symbol of the city since the eleventh century. Several legends recall this ancient union between the lily and Florence.
For example, it is said that Florentia was founded by the Romans in 59 BC during the celebrations for the arrival of spring, or that the city is named after the proconsul Fiorino, considered one of its founders, or even that flowers like lilies and irises are very common in the Florentine countryside.
Actually, the emblem of Florence hasn’t always been the current one: indeed, the colors were reversed once in the past, a white lily on a red field. The symbol that still stands in the institutional places of the city today, dates back to the struggle between Guelphs and Ghibellines. The latter, exiled from Florence, continued undeterred to show off the symbol of the white lily on red background, so the Guelfs decided to invert the colors, which remained definitive until today. At the beginning of 1800, when Napoleon tried to change the symbol of the city with a lily on green grass and silver background, the popular reaction was such that the Bonaparte withdrew the decree and the symbol remained untouched.