Europe and a Coat of Arms

Tomorrow, I am off to southern France and then northern Italy.

Since the flags of Italy and France are pretty well known, I thought I would look a little deeper and investigate symbols of regional identity. Just about every town or region in Europe has adopted a coat of arms to reflect somehow on the region's identity. St. Saturnin les Apt, in southern France definitely has the least warlike identity of the places I will visit. A star and a cow and a cross? Turin's symbol is also bovine, but certainly a bit more aggressive. Torino="Little Bull". And for Nice, France - is that a Phoenix with a crown, sitting on three eggs in a nest? But a little research says that it is, in fact, a red eagle on three mountains, by the sea (got the crown right). 

The cow of St. Sat is going to take a little more research - perhaps when I get there, a visit to the tourist office or the town mairie will help me. I doubt that this is related, but I did discover that the martyrdom of the 3rd century Saint Satrunin of Gaul is depicted with a bull dragging his body. I'll have to dig deeper.

Maybe I should have stuck with talking about the flags.