Cisalpine Republic, 1797
The Cisalpine Republic (Repubblica Cisalpina) was a French client republic in Northern Italy, created by merging the French puppet states of the Cispadane Republic and the Transpadane Republic in 1797. The first Italian tricolour was that of the Cispadane Republic, with horizontal stripes of green-white-red; the Transpadane Republic’s flag had vertical stripes. The square tricolour was adopted on 11 May 1798; based on the French flag, with green instead of blue: it is said this was Napoleon's decision.