Biscione


The biscione, also less commonly known as "the vipera", is a heraldic charge showing on argent an azure serpent in the act of consuming a human. It is a historic symbol of the city of Milan.

History

The word "biscione" is a masculine :wikt:-one#Italian|augmentative of Italian feminine "biscia", "grass snake".
The charge became associated with the city after the Visconti family gained control over Milan 1277; Bonvesin da la Riva records it in his De magnalibus urbis Mediolani as a Visconti symbol no later than the end of the 13th century. The symbol may in turn have been derived from a bronzed serpent brought to Milan from Constantinople by Arnolf II of Arsago in the 11th century. The biscione remained associated with the Duchy of Milan even after the Visconti line died out in the 15th century. The House of Sforza incorporated the symbol into their armorial after taking the duchy.

Contemporary use

As a symbol of Milan, the biscione is used by multiple organizations associated with or based in the city. Football club Inter Milan is commonly represented by a biscione, and the team's 2010–11 away shirt prominently featured the symbol. Milan-based auto manufacturer Alfa Romeo includes a biscione in its logo impaled with a red cross on white, as does espresso machine manufacturer Bezzera. Silvio Berlusconi, who was born and remains based in Milan, uses stylized biscione symbols in the logos for his companies Mediaset and Fininvest ; his residential zones Milano Due and Milano Tre and the Mediaset-owned television channel Canale 5 all also use biscione-inspired imagery.
Outside Milan, a similar design is found in the seals of the Hungarian nobleman Nicholas I Garai, palatine to the King of Hungary. Here the crowned snake devours a sovereign's orb, rather than a human. The arms of the towns of Sanok in Poland and Pruzhany in Belarus also feature the symbol, honoring the marriage of Bona Sforza to Sigismund I of Poland while both towns were part of Poland–Lithuania.
The band Lacuna Coil used a biscione for the Black Anima album cover artwork and limited edition tarot cards.

Similar symbols

Comparable to the biscione are some depictions of the Hindu deity Matsya. While his form is referred to as anthropomorphically having a humanoid upper half, and his lower half as that of a fish, some depictions show him with his upper body emerging from the mouth of a fish. In early Christian art of the catacombs, the Old Testament prophet Jonah is depicted as a man being swallowed by a serpent-like Leviathan, a sea creature of Hebrew myth.

Coats of arms, flags and symbols bearing the biscione