National colours of Italy

The national colours of Italy are green, white, and red,^[1] collectively known in Italian as il Tricolore (pronounced [il trikoˈloːre]; English: "the Tricolour"). The three Italian national colours appeared for the first time in Genoa on 21 August 1789 on the cockade of Italy shortly after the outbreak of the French Revolution, on 11 October 1796 they were used for the first time in Milan on a military banner, while on 7 January 1797 in Reggio Emilia they appeared for the first time on a flag.^[2]

In sport in Italy, it is instead common to use savoy azure, a shade of blue that was adopted for the first time in 1910 on the uniforms of the Italy national football team and which owes its name to the fact that it is the color of House of Savoy, the ruling dynasty in Italy from 1861 to 1946. It became a national color with the unification of Italy (1861), and its use continued even after Italy became a republic (1946).

The national auto racing colour of Italy is instead rosso corsa ("racing red"), while in other disciplines such as cycling and winter sports, white is often used.