Title
Postage Stamp - Italy - 1965
Type
Postage Stamp
Coverage
Italy
Date Issued
1965-10-21
Date Valid
1965-10-21-1966-12-31
Description
This set of four postage stamps was issued to celebrate the 700th anniversary of Dante's birth. Three of the stamps each depict a scene apiece from one of the parts of the Divina commedia: Inferno, Purgatorio, or Paradiso. The fourth stamp shows the Naples Bust of Dante. The subjects are as follows:
This series was deemed "Most Beautiful Stamp of 1965" by readers of the Italian stamp collecting magazine Il Collezionista.1
- The 40-lire stamp depicts a scene from Inferno 10 in which Dante and Virgil meet the entombed Florentine heretics Farinata degli Uberti and Cavalcante de' Cavalcanti. The scene is taken from a miniature in Cod. Urb. lat. 365, a fifteenth-century manuscript in the Vatican Library.
- The 90-lire stamp depicts a scene from Purgatorio 26–27 in which the angel of chastity points Dante, Virgil, and Statius toward a wall of fire through which they will pass. The scene is taken from a miniature in MS It. IX, 276 (=6902), a fourteenth-century manuscript in the Biblioteca Marciana in Venice.
- The 130-lire stamp depicts a scene from Paradiso 24 in which St. Peter interrogates Dante—accompanied by Beatrice—about the poet's faith. The scene is taken from a miniature by Giovanni di Paolo in Yates Thompson 36, a fifteenth-century manuscript in the British Library.
- The 500-lire stamp depicts the Naples Bust of Dante.
This series was deemed "Most Beautiful Stamp of 1965" by readers of the Italian stamp collecting magazine Il Collezionista.1
Denomination: L. 40 (40 ITL); L. 90 (90 ITL); L. 130 (130 ITL); L. 500 (500 ITL)
Perforation: 13 ½ × 14 (comb) (L. 40; L. 90); 14 × 13 ½ (comb) (L. 130); 14 (comb) (L. 500)
Printing process: Photogravure
Print run: 29,799,691 (L. 40); 13,509,253 (L. 90); 9,217,442 (L. 130); 2,746,692 (L. 500)
Extent
40 × 30 mm (L. 40)
40 × 30 mm (L. 90)
30 × 40 mm (L. 130)
40 × 30 mm (L. 500)
Bibliographic Citation
Michel no. 1188 (L. 40)
Michel no. 1189 (L. 90)
Michel no. 1190 (L. 130)
Michel no. 1191 (L. 500)
Sassone no. 1004 (L. 40)
Sassone no. 1005 (L. 90)
Sassone no. 1006 (L. 130)
Sassone no. 1007 (L. 500)
Scott no. 917 (L. 40)
Scott no. 918 (L. 90)
Scott no. 919 (L. 130)
Scott no. 920 (L. 500)
Francesco Giuliani, "Dante nella filatelia italiana," Dante: Rivista internazionale di studi su Dante Alighieri 10 (2013): 132.
Contributor
Istituto Poligrafico dello Stato, Officina Carte Valori (Rome, Italy)
Giovanni di Paolo
Language
Italian