The patron saint of Reggio nell'Emilia is Saint Prosper, bishop of the town, celebrated on 24 November in the Renaissance and Baroque basilica dedicated to him, which overlooks the square of the same name, San Prospero, the «Piàsa Céca» in Reggio dialect, traditionally home to the town market. The basilica is linked to the main square, Piazza Prampolini, where the cathedral and town hall stand, by the porticoed street of Via del Broletto.
Founded along the Via Emilia at the will of the Roman consul Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, Reggio Emilia can boast the title of City of the Tricolour: during the Napoleonic invasions, on 27 December 1796 an assembly of 110 delegates, gathered in Reggio under the chairmanship of Carlo Facci, decreed the founding of the Cispadane Republic; in that very hall, on 7 January 1797, the green, white and red flag was born and shown for the first time, on the proposal of Giuseppe Compagnoni, remembered for this as the «father of the Tricolour». The 18th-century town hall room where the flag was displayed has since taken the name Sala del Tricolore, today home to the town council's sittings, while the flag's history is told in the town's Tricolour Museum.
