An example of Italia Turrita: the Monument to Italy in Reggio Calabria.

Italia Turrita is the national personification or allegory of Italy, characterised by a mural crown (hence turrita or '"with towers" in the Italian language) typical of Italian civic heraldry of communal origin.

Italia Turrita is a woman with typical Mediterranean attributes, such as a coloured and lively complexion, dark hair and an elegant and ideal beauty. She often holds in her hands a bunch of corn ears (a symbol of fertility and reference to the agrarian economy); during the fascist era she held a bundle of the lictors.

[edit] Stellone d'Italia

Over her head a five-pointed star is usually seen shining radiant; an ancient secular symbol of Italy purported to protect the nation, known as Stellone d'Italia or Star of Italy. Iconographic of the Risorgimento, it was used as the crest of the armorial bearings of the Kingdom of Italy from 1870 to 1890 and is the dominant element in the modern day coat of arms adopted at the birth of the Italian Republic in 1948.

[edit] External links

• The front page of La Domenica del Corriere on 25 May 1958 depicted Italia Turrita voting in that day’s general election

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