Now as you know, I'm part Italian and I'm actually really excited

because as of the upload of this video, I'm actually getting ready to go on the Heritage Trip

in which Italy will be one of the countries that we go to.

We are gonna bring my Dad's ashes with us

and we're gonna go to a small town where his ancestors came from in the middle of Molise.

And thanks to you patreon Patrons, I was able to buy this really cool drone

so I will get awesome drone footage of the entire thing.

Except for like Paris, you're not allowed to flight drones in that city. I don't know why that's illegal...

Ahh! So much to look forward to but this is Flag/Fan Friday

I gotta teach you some stuff, so without further ado...

? Flag Friday Intro ?

So in the Italy episode, there were a few things I didn't get to talk too much about that I really wanted to.

I didn't get to talk about the multiple kingdoms and regions that it was previously divided into before the unification.

I didn't get to talk too much about the African colonies that they established after unification.

I mean to this day, you can see Italian architecture in Mogadishu, Somalia.

Or whatever is left of it. I also deliberately

didn't talk too much about the Roman Empire because...

I figured you guys already know what that is.

Anyway, the Flag!

The flag of ltaly is a vertical tricolor of equally sized bands of green, white and red.

There are quite a few different stories behind how it came to be

but what we do know is that it was first used by the Cisalpine Republic in 1797

which strip the colours, red wand white from the flag of Milan

and green from the color of the uniforms of the Milanese Civic Guard.

Then they deliberately made a triband inspired off of the French flag.

Now after all that Napoleon stuff, yada yada yada,

every single variant of their flag throughout history has had green, white and red,

not necessarily in the triband format, though.

I mean, just look at the 1802 Italian Republic flag. It looks like a low-resolution blocky eyeball from

some kind of like 1980s video game character

Anyway! Some people in the religioud community might say that the three colors stand for the

three theological virtues: Hope, faith and charity.

Whereas to the layman: Green stands fot the plains and hills of Italy.

The white for the snow-capped Alps

And the Red stands for...

BLOOD OF THOSE WHO FIGHT FOR THE FREEDOM

BLOOD OF THOSE WHO FIGHT FOR THE FREEDOM

Once again, thank you so much Ken for making that animation.

Follow him on Instagram.

He has a lot of cool stuff. Check him out.

Anyway, the coat of arms

which is not a coat of arms. It's an emblem.

The emblem contains a five-pointer star sitting upon a cogwheel

set between two branches of olive and oak.

All this is bound at the bottom by a banner that reads: "Repvbblica Italiana"

Italian Republic Which I'm sure you need no translation for.

The five pointed star is the Stallone D'Italia, an ancient symbol that has always represented the general area of Italy

as it has been historically depicted sitting on top of the Crown of the Italia Turrita.

The national personification lady of Italy.

She's kind of like what the Statue of Liberty is to the US or the Bharat Mata to India.

The cogwheel represents the Constitution which states that Italy is a democratic republic built on labour

whereas the olive branch stands for peace. The oak stands for strength and dignity.

Both of which brought together to show Brotherhood and harmony.

And keep in mind, throughout history, they used a lot of different coat of arms and emblems.

There was the Full achievement of arms, the Greater Kingdom of Italy,

The Fascist regime which basically copied the Full achievement coat of arms but replaced the lions with fascists

and the Social Republic which used to blaze on and fascist with an eagle on top.

By the way, I know we explained a long time ago in the Ecuador episode but if you don't know what a fascist is,

it's this. It's an image depicting a bundle of sticks with an axe protruding.

It was used in ancient times, mostly in Rome. It symbolizes power and authority.

So that's about it. I mean three colors with a lot of backstory in history but to me,

it'll always symbolize a nice dish of caprese salad.

And with all that being said and done. You know what time it is?

Geogra-FANMAIL Time!

Alright. So as you can see, we have quite a few packages and letters. Let's just jump into it.

Remember a couple weeks ago, somebody asked to open up their package on the

Italy's Flag Friday episode. Well, here it is.

Hey Barbs, this letter is written by Josh and Chiara

Josh is living in Texas while she lives in Padova, Italy.

We've been together for 2.5 years which is why I wanted to send you some things for your Italian research.

Wait, why would you ask me to open this on Flag Friday

but, try to help me for the Italy episode if you knew this was gonna be opened on Flag Friday?

A Bialetti mocha Express, Ciao from Italia,

Ohhh, straight-up Italian espresso and coffee.

I love pesto! And of course, to top it all of: an Italian flag.

Josh, Chiara, thank you so much. I can't wait to go to Italy for the heritage trip.

This just epitomizes Italy.

.