beyond the borders of Emilia, especially in Lombardy, and began to be used more and more often as a military banner by the Napoleonic soldiers who fought in Italy. In Bergamo, civilians were obliged to wear a tricolour cockade pinned to their clothes, a coercion that was sanctioned, on 13 May 1797, also in Modena and Reggio nell'Emilia. Even without the need for obligations on the part of the authorities, the cockade spread more and more among the population, who wore it with pride, laying the foundations, together with other factors, for the Risorgimento. The green, white and red tricolour was then adopted by the cities of Venice, Brescia, Padua, Bergamo, Vicenza and Verona, with the latter having rebelled against the government of the Republic of Venice. The national flag of the Cisalpine Republic A few months later, on 29 June 1797, with the union between the Cispadana and Transpadana republics, the Cisalpine Republic was formed, a large-scale pro-Napoleonic state body with Milan as its capital. At the formal celebration of the birth in the new republic, which took place on 9 July in the Milanese capital, 300,000 people participated (only 25,000 according to other sources), including ordinary citizens, French soldiers and representatives of the major municipalities of the republic. According to Francesco Melzi d'Eril, a participant of the event, there were about 1,000 Milanese citizens who spontaneously participated in the celebration, while the remaining part was made up of soldiers. The event, which took place at the lazaretto of Milan, was characterized by a riot of flags and tricolour cockades. On this occasion Napoleon solemnly gave to the military units of the newborn republic, after having reviewed them, their tricolour banners. Originally the colours of the flag of the Cisalpine Republic were arranged horizontally, with green at the top, but on 11 May 1798, the Grand Council of the newborn State chose, as the national banner, an Italian tricolour with the colours arranged vertically: The sedentary National Guard of the Cisalpine Republic was structured similarly to the Lombard and Cispadana Legions, that is, into legions, battalions and companies. The uniform of this military team was white, red and green: The Cisalpine Republic, since it included Lombardy, part of the Veronese area, the former Duchy of Modena and Reggio, the former Duchy of Massa and Carrara, the Legations of Bologna, Ferrara and Romagna, was the nucleus of modern Italy, despite