Tricolore

Tricolore is a term used in vexillology to describe a flag that features three colors arranged in three bands or fields. It is most commonly associated with national flags, particularly those of Italy and France, where the flag is often referred to simply as the Tricolore or Le Tricolore.

The Italian tricolor flag consists of three vertical bands of green, white, and red, from hoist to fly. It has a proportion of 2:3. The green–white–red arrangement emerged during the late 18th century and was adopted as the national flag during the Italian Risorgimento, with the Kingdom of Italy proclaimed in 1861. It continued as the national flag after the establishment of the Italian Republic in 1946 and remains in use today.

Symbolism commonly ascribed to the Italian tricolor includes green for the land, white for the snow-capped Alps or for peace, and red for the blood shed in the fight for independence and unity. There is no official, universally binding interpretation of the colors, and different sources offer varying meanings.

Beyond Italy, the term tricolore is used to describe other three-color flags, especially those with three vertical bands. The French flag, known as Le Tricolore, is another prominent example. In many languages, tricolore or tricolor is a general label for flags with three colors, and the term appears in historical and contemporary contexts to denote such designs.