not include the entire Italian peninsula and which was also directly dependent on Napoleonic France, the arrangement of the colours on the flag changed into a composition formed by a green square inserted in a white diamond, in turn included in a red box. The Presidential standard of Italy in use since 14 October 2000 was inspired by this flag. The radical change in the arrangement of the colours was probably proposed by the Vice President of the Republic Francesco Melzi d'Eril, who perhaps wanted to communicate, even from a symbolic point of view, the end of a phase of history of Italy. The decree of adoption of the historic Napoleonic flag, which is dated 20 August 1802, reads: Melzi d'Eril also wanted to eliminate the green but, due to the opposition of Napoleon and the "pressure of democratic Masonic moral forces, the colour was kept. With the transformation of the Italian Republic into the Kingdom of Italy (1805–1814), also a state body not including the entire Italian peninsula, the flag did not undergo substantial changes. In the meantime, the Napoleonic revolutionary thrust underwent an evolution, taking on more reactionary hues: for example, the French revolutionary calendar was abolished, which was replaced by the restoration of the ancient Gregorian calendar, and many myths of the French revolution, such as the Storming of the Bastille, were overshadowed. This change also affected the use of flags and cockades. The Italian tricolour was increasingly replaced by the French one, with the blue of the French flag taking the place of the green of the Italian banner. This change was also formal: the bands of mayors now consisted of the French tricolour and no longer the Italian one. Despite these limitations, the green, white and red tricolour continued to enter more and more into the collective imagination of Italians becoming, to all intents and purposes, an unequivocal symbol of Italianess. In just under 20 years, the Italian flag, from a simple banner derived from the French one, had acquired its own peculiarity, becoming very famous and well known. Aftermath With the fall of Napoleon (1814) and the restoration of the absolutist monarchical regimes, the Italian tricolour went underground, becoming the symbol of the patriotic ferments that began to spread in Italy and the symbol which united all the efforts of the Italian people towards freedom and independence. Between 1820 and 1861, a sequence of