Republic of Senarica (Italy) (original) (raw)

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image located by Clive Carpenter, 20April 2011Source:http://digilander.libero.it/breschirob/venezia.html by Roberto Breschi

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Republic of Senarica

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Roberto Breschi Site

Republic of Senarica

According to Roberto Breschi's presentation titled: "The Small Italian States Which Lasted Beyond 1700" at ICV 19 (York, 2001), concerning the Republic of Senarica (today maybe in l'Aquila province, Abruzzi region), there is no evidence for a flag apart from knowing that it was a gonfalon which had a yellow background. The assumption is that it was charged with the coat of arms (lion) which was located in a church.
Dov Gutterman, 2 August 2001

My searches led me to the conclusion that there's no municipality in Italy bearing that name. The only thing existing is a fraction of the commune of Crognaleto (Teramo province, Abruzzi region).
Valerio Cheli, 12 December 2001

Here are details available from an article by Aldo Ziggioto, published on the bulletin "Armi Antiche", 1987:
Senàrica is a small village west of Teramo, in central Italy. Numbering less than 300 people, it was an independent republic for about four centuries, being the smallest state achieving an independent status for so long. Senàrica - and her neighbouring village of Poggio Umbricchio - became independent about 1343, when Queen Giovanna I of Angi� granted the area independence because of their fierce opposition against the enemy troops of Ambrogio Visconti (from Milan). Senàrica rulers were impressed by the splendor of the Republic of Venice, so they modeled their state adopting a similar government configuration. It included a Doge as Head of the State and a lion as the symbol of the State. The arms were a black shield with a silver lion fetching a snake of the same colour. These arms appeared on a gold gonfalon and on the seal as well. In the cathedral is still visible a reproduction of the lion, that in this particular image is topped by a crown. The republic finished by the end of the XVIII century.
Pier Paolo Lugli, 28 January 2002

From http://digilander.libero.it/breschirob/venezia.html#sen:

"Senarica, a very tiny village on the first northern foothills of Gran Sasso, formed for more than four centuries a independent republic, nearly forgotten today. It was set up in 1343, on the model of the Republic of Venice, of which it was always a very faithful ally and which protected it. Following the decadence of its great ally, the Republic vanished and totally disappeared around 1800.

The image is a free reconstruction of the flag or banner of the Senarica Republic. The lion recalls St. Mark's lion of Venice, but without wings. It holds a snake, probably the Visconti snake, recalling the resistance against the Visconti troops in 1343, that caused the independence of Senarica.

Sources: P. Marcozzi, 'Le vie d'Italia' 12, 43, 1937 and 'Armi antiche', 1987"

Another reconstruction of the gonfalon was contributed on 22 July 2007 to Wikimedia Commons by Robert Prummel:http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gonfalone_op_brokaat.jpg
More details (in Italian) in the Senarica village's website:http://www.senarica.it
Ivan Sache, 20 April 2011