The National Flag Day of Italy was established in 1996 to remember the birth of the Italian national flag. It is celebrated every year on January 7, with the official event in Reggio Emilia, the city where the first adoption of the Tricolor by a sovereign Italian state, the Cispadana Republic, took place.

The idea for a green, white and red national flag is attributed to Giuseppe Compagnoni, known as the Father of the Tricolor. The vertical bands of green, white and red symbolize nature, the mountains and the blood of Italy's defenders..