Kingdom of Sardinia ~ Grunge Flag (1720 - 1851)

The Kingdom of Sardinia (Italian: Regno di Sardegna) originally consisted of the islands of Corsica and Sardinia, which were granted by the Papacy to the Crown of Aragon in 1297. Sardinia remained a part of the Aragonese and Spanish dominions until it passed to the House of Savoy in 1720, following the War of the Quadruple Alliance. The Savoyards integrated the island into their continental possessions and forged a major European power commonly known as Piedmont-Sardinia. The kingdom was an early enemy of Revolutionary France and was therefore crushed by Napoleon Bonaparte during the French invasion of Italy in 1796, after which its continental possessions were largely annexed by France. Following the fall of Napoleon, the kingdom was fully restored and also given the territory of the extinct Genoese Republic. Sardinia then gradually annexed more and more Italian territory and established the Kingdom of Italy in 1861, after which it formally united the Italian peninsula by 1870.

One of the flags flown by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, usually as a naval ensign and war flag, was a blue field displaying the emblem of the House of Savoy in the canton.

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