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Thebiscione[a] (English: "biggrass snake"), less commonly known also as thevipera,[b] is inheraldry acharge consisting of a divine serpent with a child in its mouth; the serpent may be variously described as being in the act of swallowing the child, or the child may be emerging from its mouth. It is a historic symbol of the city ofMilan, used by companies based in the city.
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Etymologically, wordbiscione is a masculineaugmentative of Italian femininebiscia "grass snake" (corrupted frombistia, ultimately from Latinbestia "beast").
The charge became associated with the city after theVisconti family gained control over Milan 1277;Bonvesin da la Riva records it in hisDe magnalibus urbis Mediolani (On the Marvels of the City of Milan) as a Visconti symbol no later than the end of the 13th century.[1] The symbol may have been derived from a bronzed serpent brought to Milan fromConstantinople byArnolf II of Arsago (Archbishop of Milan 998–1018) in the 11th century.[2]
One of the oldest depictions of the Biscione is in the Great Hall of theVisconti Castle of Angera. The hall was painted at the end of the 13th century with frescoes celebratingArchbishop Ottone Visconti's victory against the rival family of theDella Torre. The viper swallowing a small human figure is depicted in the pendentives of the hall.[3]
Thebiscione remained associated with theDuchy of Milan even after the Visconti line died out in the 15th century.[4] TheHouse of Sforza incorporated the symbol into their armorial after taking the duchy.
A Renaissance Milanese writer described the insignia of the Duke of Milan in 1531:
Exiliens infans sinuosi e faucibus anguis, Est gentilitiis nobile stemma tuis. Talia Pellaeum gesisse nomismata regem, Vidimus, hisque suum concelebrare genus. Dum se Ammone satum, matrem anguis imagine lusam, Divini & sobolem seminis esse docet. Ore exit tradunt sic quosdam enitier angues, An quia sic Pallas de capite orta Iovis.
An infant bursting from the maw of a coiling serpent marks the noble lineage of your clan. We have observed that the Pellaean king had coinage with such a device and by it celebrated his own descent, proclaiming that he was begotten of Ammon, that his mother was beguiled by the form of a snake and the child was the offspring of divine seed. The infant emerges from the mouth. They say that some snakes come to birth that way. Or is it because Pallas sprang like this from the head of Jove?
As a symbol of Milan, thebiscione is used by multiple organizations associated with or based in the city. Football clubInter Milan is commonly represented by abiscione, and the team's 2010–11 and 2021–22 away shirts prominently featured the symbol. Milan-based auto manufacturerAlfa Romeo (also known as theCasa del Biscione, Italian for "House of theBiscione" or "Biscione['s] marque") includes abiscione in its logoimpaled with a red cross on white (derived from theflag of Milan), as does espresso machine manufacturerBezzera [d]. The late Italian media mogul and former Prime Minister of ItalySilvio Berlusconi, who was born and raised in Milan, used stylizedbiscione symbols in the logos for his companiesMediaset andFininvest (with the child replaced by a flower); his residential zonesMilano Due and Milano Tre and the Mediaset-owned television channelCanale 5 also usebiscione-inspired imagery.
Outside Milan, a similar design is found in the seals of the Hungarian noblemanNicholas I Garai,palatine to the King of Hungary (1375–1385). Here the crowned snake devours asovereign's orb, rather than a human.[6] The arms of the towns ofSanok in Poland andPruzhany in Belarus also feature the symbol, honoring the marriage ofBona Sforza toSigismund I of Poland while both towns were part ofPoland–Lithuania.[citation needed]
Comparable to thebiscione are some depictions of the Hindu deityMatsya. 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 thecatacombs, theOld Testament prophetJonah is depicted as a man being swallowed by a serpent-likeLeviathan, a sea creature of Hebrew myth.
Following the historical-dynastic events linked to the Visconti and Sforza families, the biscione appears as part of the municipal coat of arms also of cities and municipalities in Central-Eastern Europe:
Historically, it appeared in the coats of arms of the following states:
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