Florentine Lily

Vid’ io Fiorenza in sì fatto riposo,
che non avea cagione onde piangesse.
   Con queste genti vid’ io glorioso
e giusto il popol suo, tanto che ’l giglio
non era ad asta mai posto a ritroso,
   né per division fatto vermiglio.

(Paradiso XVI.149-54)

I saw Florence in such calm repose
that there was no cause for her to weep.
   I saw these townsmen alongside
her glorious and righteous people. Indeed, the lily
was never raised by bannermen reversed
   nor was it turned vermilion by division.

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The verses quoted here were spoken by Cacciaguida, Dante’s great-great grandfather. Recalling the ancient glory of Florence, he longs for the days when the city was still peaceful and had not yet reversed the colors of its flag.

There are several legends surrounding the founding and Roman name of Florence (Florentia). The one that seems most credible is that, at the time of the city’s founding in the first century BC, the Romans were celebrating the Ludi Floreales or the Floralia (28 April - 3 May), games held in honor of Flora, a minor ancient Roman goddess of grains, vegetables and fruits.

The association of Florence with flowers has endured for two millennia. The symbol known as the Florentine lily probably derived from the white iris (Lat. iris florentina), which grows in great abundance throughout Tuscany. The heraldic fleur-de-lis differs from that of the French royals in the fact that the Florentine version shows the stamen between the petals, while there is no stamen in the French version.

The white iris (very commonly conflated with the lily) had numerous allegorical meanings in the Middle Ages. Most significantly, it indicated purity and was frequently associated with the Virgin Mary. Similarly, its three petals were often thought to represent the trinity and/or many other theologically important groups of three.

This white iris or lily was reversed, as Giovanni Villani tells us, in 1251:

“And the heads of the Ghibellines in Florence being banished, the people and the Guelphs who remained in charge of Florence changed the commune’s coat of arms. Whereas it was once a white lily on a red field, they reversed it so that it would now be a red lily on a white field. [...] But the ancient standard of the commune, half-white and half-red, which the army took with them and put upon the carroccio, was never changed.” (Nuova cronica 6.43)

This thirteenth-century reversal of colors ‘invented’ the red iris, which does not exist in the wild. However, from the end of April to roughly the end of May, you can visit the Giardino dell’iris (located just to the east of Piazzale Michelangelo) where iris enthusiasts have been working to produce a flower that has a deep red color.

Above: the Florentine flag before and after 1251. The first florins were minted the following year.

Below: the ancient flag of the commune of Florence, adopted in the late 900s, flew over the carroccio during the disastrous defeat of the Guelphs at the Battle of Montaperti in 1260 where the Ghibellines won the day with help from the Sienese.

It could very well be that the white and red standard was influenced by the two colors on the coat of arms of Hugh of Tuscany (below).