A **gonfalon** is a flag suspended from a horizontal crossbar carried on a vertical staff, rather than bent on by its hoist edge. The lower edge is often cut into tails or scallops. Gonfalons originated in medieval Italian city-states and remain in use for civic and ecclesiastical ceremony, and as the formal banners of universities.
**Example**: The gonfalons of the contrade of Siena are paraded before the Palio horse race.
**See also**: [banner](/glossary/banner/), [standard](/glossary/standard/), [vexilloid](/glossary/vexilloid/), [pennon](/glossary/pennon/)