Last modified: 2020-07-26 by rob raeside
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by Roberto Breschi from CISV
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Municipalities:
Ragusa (Sicily) - blue with great yellow circle and whitin the
arms. Arms adopted 6-12-1926
Jaume Ollé, 1 August 1999
I have to point out that the town of Ragusa ("Città di
Ragusa") in Italy has no flag of its own. It is the Province
of Ragusa that displays a blue flag with a yellow circle within
the arms in the center. For further details here is an article:
The Province of Ragusa is the smallest of the nine provinces of
Sicily, covering the southeastern part of this island and looking
onto the Malta channel.
The provincial flag was adopted on the seventieth anniversary of
the birth (1997).
As it is a wide practise in Italy the substancial portion of the
flag derives from the device of the gonfalon -the background is
blue with the provincial coat of arms in the center. It is now
placed within a gold ring; below the script "Provincia
Regionale di Ragusa" (Regional Province of Ragusa) in
capital letters of gold in form of arc. The province was created
on 16 January 1927 by the Fascist regime and the coats of arm
dates from that era. It consisted of a white (argent) and red
(gules) checkered bend of two rows stretching across a blue
background, in the center a gold eagle holding a fasces in its
claws and a gold five-pointed star above. Royal approval was
given on 17April 1930. The design or the arms (appearing on a
blue gonfalon) had the following symbolism. The field was a
reference to the Normans, who after decades of struggle in the XI
century were able to seize control of Sicily -Arab rule
approached its end after about two and a half centuries. The new
rulers introduced feudalism and what is today the Ragusa province
flourished in the Middle Ages as County of Ṃdica, which was
suppressed in the early XIX century and subordinated to the
Province of Syracuse. The eagle and fasces stood for the Fascist
regime. According to a decree dated 13 April 1905 the Italian
provincial crown completed the design. Obviously no sooner had
Fascism broken down than the fasces was not retained and
eventually replaced by a wreath ("crown") of laurel and
oak branches with a red ribbon. The long history of this area
allowed for different possible interpretations of the eagle. This
was the symbol of the whole Sicily during the Middle Ages until
1848, led by the Swabian emperors ruling over this island too.
Most of the towns of the Province of Ragusa bear or have borne in
their coat of arms an eagle. After World War II, Sicily was
granted autonomy assuming responsibility over some local affairs
and in the matter of local government system too. So in theory
the nine Provinces were formally suppressed, all the same they
have continued to exist and only in 1989 new administrative
divisions were established. In reality each Province were
confirmed (and its boundaries as well) was confirmed but the
official name was changed to "Regional Province".
Like in the gonfalon currently in use, the colour blue in the
shield of the flag is lighter than the blue of the field of the
flag.
Rosario Francesco Raunisi, 15 January 2002
Just to remind, it should not be confuzed with Ragusa on
Adriatic coast, today known after Croat name Dubrovnik.
Zeljko Heimer, 15 January 2002
ragus.gif)
from <www.provincia.ragusa.it>,
located by Jarig Bakker
