'procession of the doges'), four banners of Saint Mark with different background colours, white, purple, blue, and red, were carried, with the one in front representing the state of the republic at that time (at peace, in a truce, in an alliance, at war, respectively).

The first recorded use of the Lion of Saint Mark on a red field by the Venetians dates back to the late thirteenth century.

[8] Genoese archivist Jacobus de Voragine makes reference to the Lion of Saint Mark as the official symbol for Venice.

[8] For 337 years 12 Gonfalonieri, mercenaries from Perast (modern day Montenegro), were appointed by the Venetian senate to guard the flag of the Republic at all times on the pain of death.

As a result, the traditional flag of the Republic of Venice was abolished and replaced with two equal horizontal bands of blue on top of yellow.

Captain Joko Viskovich made a speech in the local language, stating "The history of this day will be known throughout all Europe, how Perast has maintained, with dignity, to the very end, the honour of the Venetian flag, honouring it with this solemn act, lowering it to the ground, bathed in our universal and bitter tears'.

On some occasions, the flag of the Republic of Venice flies atop a flagpole outside St. Mark's Basilica in Piazza San Marco.

[citation needed] Usage of the flag has also been adopted as a symbol by some claiming to represent the Venetian regionalist movement.