The history of the postal service and postal stamps in Italy
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Joseph-Antoine Moltedo, head of the Roman postal service, 1803-1814.
Napoleonic Italy (1805–1814)
During the Napoleonic Wars, the geopolitical instability of the region led to a wide variety in postal systems.[1] In the Kingdom of Italy, the short-lived Italian Republic, and other dependent regions, Napoleon appointed postal administrators loyal to him.[2][3]
After the Treaty of Paris in 1814, the independent Italian kingdoms regained control of their postal systems.
1814–1860
The Cavallini ("little horses") of Sardinia was an early private mail service, notable for the introduction of prepaid stamped lettersheets in 1819.
The first postage stamps in Italy were also issued by the Sardinian kingdom. In 1850, Count Camillo Cavour drafted a report to the Chamber of Deputies of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia proposing postal reform along the lines of that which had been adopted in several European states, and providing for the introduction of postage stamps, for which a new word - francobollo - was coined. The reform became law in November, and went into effect 1 January 1851.
After some casting around for expertise in the newfangled art of stamp printing, the government settled on the house of Francesco Matraire in Turin. Postage stamps of the Sardinian kingdom with the embossed profile of Victor Emmanuel II without indicating the name of the state were printed by Matraire and issued on January 1, 1851.
Following Sardinia, other Italian states also issued stamps. These include Tuscany (April 1851), the Papal States (January 1852), Modena (June 1852), Parma (June 1852), Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (Naples - January 1858; Sicily - January 1859), Romagna (September 1859) . In the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom under the Austrian Empire, stamps were also issued with denominations in the local currency.
The first stamp of the Duchy of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla, 1852
Stamp of the Duchy of Modena, 1852
Stamp of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, 1853
Stamp for Naples in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, 1858
Stamp for Sicily in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, 1859
Stamp of the Papal State of Romagna, 1859
Stamp of the Papal States, 1867
The Kingdom of Italy
An 1862 stamp of the Sardinian kingdom, considered the first stamps of the Kingdom of Italy.
Following the unification of Italy during 1860 and 1861, stamps in use in each of the territories that joined Italy were withdrawn from circulation and replaced with the stamps of the Sardinian kingdom. The transition took place in Modena, Parma and Romagna on February 1, 1860, in Naples on September 15, 1862 (although local authorities had previously printed stamps depicting the coat of arms of Savoy), and in the Papal States - only in 1870. Matraire's stamps were reprinted several times, and those printed after 17 March 1861 are usually considered the first stamps of the Kingdom of Italy.
An 1863 stamp of the Kingdom of Italy.
Perforated stamps of the fourth standard edition of the Sardinian kingdom with an embossed profile of Victor Emmanuel II were issued in 1862. Starting on 1 January 1863, uniform postal rates went into effect.
In 1862 Count Ambjörn Sparre won the stamp contract, but his designs were not liked, and he seemed unable to produce the stamps. In danger of running out of stamps altogether, at the end of 1862 the Italian government once again turned to Matraire, who quickly produced a stamp with a nominal value of 15 centesimo by lithography, depicting the profile of King Victor Emanuel II and the inscription "Postale italiano".
The contract with Count Sparre was annulled in March 1863, and a new contract was given to the British printing house De La Rue. A series of eight stamps with the inscription “Poste italiane” in denominations from 1 centesimo to 2 lira was issued on December 1, 1863.
Humbert succeeded his father in 1878, which necessitated a new issue of stamps. First appearing on 15 August 1879, they were the first stamps of the kingdom to be entirely designed, engraved, and printed by Italians. Since considerable stocks of Victor Emmanuel stamps were left over and finances were poor, the old stamps continued in use for some years, and some values of Humbert's stamps were little-used during his reign.
A 1917 Italian airmail stamp for the Troins-Rome flight
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The Imperial Series
Until 1929, all definitive stamps were issued with the portrait of the king or the coat of arms. In April 1929, the so-called "Imperial Series" ("Serie Imperiale") was released, the first definitive series of Benito Mussolini's fascist government. The stamp designs featured images of the Capitoline she-wolf with Romulus and Remus, Julius Caesar, Octavian Augustus and Italia, and contained the fasces, symbol of the fascist regime.
Italian Social Republic
In 1943, the Germans set up the Italian Social Republic (RSI) in northern Italy, a Nazi puppet state with Mussolini installed as leader after he was rescued by German paratroopers.
Stamp of the Italian Social Republic, 1944
Stamp of the Italian Social Republic, 1944
Stamp of the Italian Social Republic, 1944
Stamp of the Italian Social Republic, 1944
Italian Republic
Italy became a republic after a referendum held on 2 June 1946.
Fiume stamp controversy
In 2007, the issue of an Italian stamp featuring the Croatian city of Rijeka caused a controversy.[6] The stamp referred to the city in its usual Italian name of Fiume, claiming it was former Italian territory. This is seen as offensive in Croatia.[citation needed]
After the war, from 1945 to 1947, Venezia Giulia was occupied by Allied Anglo-American troops (Zone “A” - the territory with the city of Trieste) and troops of the Yugoslav People's Army (Zone “B” - Istria and the Slovene Littoral). The zones of occupation were demarcated along the so-called Morgan Line. In Zone A, Italian stamps were overprinted "A.M.G./V.G." (Allied Military Government/Venezia Giulia) in September 1945. In 1947, following the Paris Peace Treaties, Italy ceded most of these lands to Yugoslavia.
A 1945 stamp for Allied occupied Venezia Giulia
Free Territory of Trieste
The peace treaty established Trieste and the surrounding area as the Free Territory of Trieste, also divided into zones A and B, under Allied military administration and Yugoslav military administration, respectively. In Zone A, Italian stamps overprinted "A.M.G./F.T.T." were issued between 1947 and 1954. The Free Territory was divided between Italy and Yugoslavia in 1954, with Zone A joining Italy.
Campione d'Italia issues
Campione d'Italia is a small Italian exclave surrounded by Switzerland near Lake Lugano. The municipal council issued its own stamps in May 1944. The stamps were inscribed "RR Poste italiane / Comune de Campione" and denominated in the Swiss currency.[7] Campione stamps were withdrawn in 1952. Since then, mail may be sent using either Swiss stamps or Italian stamps.
Victor Emmanuel II was King of Sardinia from 23 March 1849 until 17 March 1861, when he assumed the title of King of Italy and became the first king of an independent, united Italy since the 6th century, a title he held until his death in 1878. Borrowing from the old Latin title Pater Patriae of the Roman emperors, the Italians gave him the epithet of Father of the Fatherland.
This article deals with the stamps and postal history of the Austrian Empire, Cisleithania within Austria-Hungary, and the Republic of Austria.
This is a partial timeline of significant events in postal history, including dates and events relating to postage stamps.
The provinces of Italy are the second-level administrative divisions of the Italian Republic, on an intermediate level between a municipality and a region. Since 2015, provinces have been classified as "institutional bodies of second level".
Each "article" in this category is in fact a collection of entries about several stamp issuers, presented in alphabetical order. The entries themselves are formulated on the micro model and so provide summary information about all known issuers.
Each "article" in this category is a collection of entries about several stamp issuers, presented in alphabetical order. The entries are formulated on the micro model and so provide summary information about all known issuers.
Each "article" in this category is a collection of entries about several stamp issuers, presented in alphabetical order. The entries are formulated on the micro model and so provide summary information about all known issuers.
Each "article" in this category is a collection of entries about several stamp issuers, presented in alphabetical order. The entries are formulated on the micro model and so provide summary information about all known issuers.
The British post offices in Africa were a system of post offices set up by the United Kingdom to be used by its Middle East Forces and East Africa Forces in Africa during and after World War II.
The story of the postage stamps and postal history of Yugoslavia officially begins with the formation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes on 1 December 1918.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Montenegro.
The Kingdom of Sardinia, also referred to as the Kingdom ofSardinia-Piedmont or Piedmont-Sardinia as a composite state during the Savoyard period, was a country in Southern Europe from the late 13th until the mid-19th century.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Slovenia.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Egypt.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Eritrea.
La Poste Monaco is the company responsible for postal service in Monaco. It is a branch of Groupe La Poste (France).
Poste Vaticane is an organization responsible for postal service in Vatican City. The organization is part of the Post and Telegraphy Service.
The Royal Sardinian Navy was the naval force of the Kingdom of Sardinia. The fleet was created in 1720 when the Duke of Savoy, Victor Amadeus II, became the King of Sardinia. Victor Amadeus had acquired the vessels be used to establish the fleet while he was still the King of Sicily in 1713. The Sardinian Navy saw action in a number of conflicts, including the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars from the 1790s to 1810s, limited actions against the Barbary Coast such as the Battle of Tripoli in 1825, and the Second Italian War of Independence in 1859. The last war was a major step toward Italian unification, which led to the creation of a united Italian state in 1861. During the fighting in 1860, the Royal Navy of the Two Sicilies either defected or surrender and was merged into the Sardinian Navy, resulting in the creation of the Regia Marina, which itself became the Marina Militare, the modern Italian navy, in 1946.
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