Postage Stamp - United States - 1965]]>
  • No. 9: Bust of Dante
  • No. 10: Dante's house in Florence
  • No. 11: Dante's tomb in Ravenna
  • No. 12: Bust of Beatrice; quotation from Vita nuova 26:5
  • No. 13: Vision of Beatrice; quotation from Paradiso 21:1–2
  • No. 14: Map of Trieste; quotation from Inferno 9:113–114
  • No. 15: Map of Trent; quotation from Inferno 20:61–63
  • No. 16: Vision from Purgatorio; quotation from Purgatorio 29:121–122
All of the stamps have either "ONORATE L’ALTISSIMO POETA" (Honor the most exalted poet); a reference to the sixth centenary of Dante's death (or both); dates; and other descriptive text and/or quotations from Dante's works as enumerated above.

Malorzo lists four varieties of this issue: type "a": printed in blue on yellow paper; type "b": printed in green-gray on white paper; type "c": printed in brown on white paper (shown here); and type "d": printed in black on white paper.]]> Purgatorio)]]>
Both stamps use the "somewhat oldwomanly likeness" of Dante drawn by Stefano Tofanelli and engraved by Raffaello Morghen in the eighteenth century.1

The English stamp has the portrait in a frame with the masks of tragedy and comedy in the upper corners and a scroll and horn at the bottom. The stamp has text as follows: at top: "POETS AND PHILOSOPHERS / ITALIAN"; at bottom: "DANTE ALLIGHIERI 1265-1321 / TOBLER / SWISS MILK / CHOCOLATE / No 370 · SERIE 31 · No 361-372".

The other stamp is in Ido, a derivative of Esperanto, and has a simpler frame. The stamp has text as follows: at top: "POETI E PENSISTI / · ITALIA ·"; at bottom: "DANTE ALIGHIERI 1265-1321 / TOBLER / SUISIANA LAKTO / CHOKOLADO / LINGUO INTERNACIONA ‹IDO› / (REFORM-ESPERANTO) / SERIO XXXI No 361–372 No 370".]]> The Portraits of Dante Compared with the Measurements of His Skull and Reclassified, Princeton Monographs in Art and Archaeology 10 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1921): 48–49, https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001218985. Mather incorrectly ascribes the portrait to Antonio Zatta's 1757 Venice edition of Dante's works; Tofanelli was born in 1752 and Morghen in 1758.]]> ANTE ALIGHIERI'"; vertically along the right: "Curityba-Paraná-Brasil"; along the bottom: "VIo CENTENARIO"; below the portrait is: "14 Settembre 1321" (September 14, 1321, Dante’s traditional death day). The name and location (Curitiba) of the printer appears in the lower left corner, however the author could not read it.]]> Purgatorio 6:80: "SOL PER LO DOLCE SVON DELLA SVA TERRA" (merely for the sweet sound of his city). At the top is the chapter's name: "SOCIETÀ NAZIONALE / DANTE ALIGHIERI / COMITATO MANTOVANO".]]> Purgatorio 7:17. At the bottom of the stamp is text as follows: "VI·CENTENA– / RIO·DANTESCO / MCCCXXI–MCMXXI / COMITATO·DI· / MONTEVIDEO·" (6th Dante centenary 1321–1921, Montevideo chapter)."]]> o CONGRESSO · / TREVISO-VITTORIO / 8-11 SETTEM. 1928-VI" (33rd congress, Treviso-Vittorio, September 8–11, 1928, Year VI of the Fascist Era). The printer is recorded at the bottom: "SOC. AN. LONGO · ZOPPELLI - TREVISO". Malorzo records versions printed in black, blue, and red.]]> This series of seals presumably was produced by or for a local chapter of the Società Dante Alighieri in the 1990s. Each seal features Giotto's portrait of Dante, the letters "SDA" vertically along the left side, and the year at the bottom. The seals were printed in sheets of thirty. Considering the provenance of the sheets in the author's collection, these seals likely are from Argentina.]]> Aeneid 6:823: "·VINCET·AMOR·PATRIÆ·" (love of country conquers). At the bottom is "·SOCIETÀ·DANTE·ALIGHIERI" and the printer's name and city: "A. FUSETTI-MILANO". Antonio Fusetti's printing firm was established in 1922.]]> Annuario industriale della Provincia di Milano (Milan: Unione industriale fascista della Provincia di Milano, 1933), p. 666, https://books.google.com/books?id=CXGw_2BsrwQC&pg=PA666&lpg=PA666.]]> Divina commedia; above the wreath are the coat of arms of Chile on the left and of the Kingdom of Italy on the right. A burning torchière occupies the left side of the vignette. The stamp has text as follows: at the top: "SESTO CENTENARIO / ·MORTE· / DANTE ALLIGHIERI" (sixth centenary of the death of Dante Alighieri); at the bottom: "'ONORATE / L'ALTISSIMO POETA' / 1321-Santiago Cile-1921" (Honor the most exalted poet).]]> o CENTENARIO / DANTESCO" (7th Dante centenary); at the bottom: "1265-1965" and "S. CRESTANI".]]> Inferno 24:77–78: "LA DIMANDA ONESTA SI DEE SE- / GVIR CON L'OPERA TACENDO" (The honest request must be followed by silent work).]]> –30, 1942, in Weimar and Florence, the meeting brought together members of the national fascist youth movements of Germany and Italy—the Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth) and the Gioventù italiana del Littorio (Italian Youth of the Lictor). The meetings featured competitions and events organized around five themes: Music, Youth Books, Youth Press, Youth Theater, and Radio.

This stamp's theme represents unity between Italy and Germany by showing overlapping portraits of Dante and German author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The portrait of Dante is Raphael's painting of the poet (reversed from the original) from the artist's fresco Disputation of the Holy Sacrament in the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City. The portraits are flanked by two lions. Above the lion on the left is the Roman gladius sword and shield emblem of the Gioventù italiana del Littorio; above the lion on the right is the emblem of the Hitlerjugend. The left lion holds a shield with a fleur-de-lis, symbol of Florence, and the right lion holds a shield with a fasces, symbol of fascist Italy.

The stamp has text as follows: at the top: "MANIFESTAZIONI CULTURALI"; at the bottom: "DELLA GIOVENTÙ EUROPEA". The year below the lions, "ANNO / XX·EF.", stands for "20th year of the fascist era." The fascist era began when Mussolini rose to power after his infamous march on Rome in October 1922. The 20th year ran from October 28, 1941 to October 27, 1942. Along the bottom edge is the abbreviated name of the printer, "IST. POL. STATO - OFF. CARTE VALORI" (Istituto Poligrafico dello Stato, Officina Carte Valori), and the designer, "M. MELIS" (Melkiorre Melis). Malorzo erroneously records this as a 1944 issue.]]> Kulturkundgebungen der Europäischen Jugend: Weimar-Florenz, 18. bis 30. Juni 1942: Wettbewerbe und Arbeitsgemeinschaften in Weimar. Weimar?: s.n., 1942. https://archive.org/details/EuropaischeJugend1942Wettbewerbe.]]> https://miles.forumcommunity.net/?t=57488707.]]> GIORNATA DELLA DANTE ALIGHIERI" (Dante Alighieri Day). Based on its style, the stamp may be from the 1970s.]]> Inferno 4:80 above the same portrait: "Onorate l'altissimo Poeta" (Honor the most exalted poet) and dates "1321 - 1921" below.]]> 1

The stamp reproduces the woodcut portrait of Dante found in the 1521 Venice edition of his Convivio.2 The text refers to the second anniversary of the bombardment of Ancona, Italy: "XXIV Maggio MCMXV / Secundo [sic] / Anniversario / XXIV Maggio MCMXVII" (May 24, 1915, second anniversary, May 24, 1917).

Kiddle and Schmidt catalog two versions, one printed in green and brown on white paper and one printed in red and black on gray paper.3]]> 1. Brian J. Birch, "Fontanille, Gaston Aimé Camille," in "Biographies of Philatelists and Dealers," Global Philatelic Library, February 21, 2018, accessed December 4, 2020, http://www.globalphilateliclibrary.org/birch/BiographiesOfPhilatelistsDealers.pdf.

2. Frank Jewett Mather, Jr., The Portraits of Dante Compared with the Measurements of His Skull and Reclassified, Princeton Monographs in Art and Archaeology 10 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1921): 63–64, https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001218985.

3. Charles Kiddle and Walter Schmidt, The Images of the Great War: Delandre World War I Vignettes: Vol. 4, Vignettes Other Than Military or Red Cross, Cinderella Stamp Club Handbook 13 (Alton, Hampshire, England: World War I Study Group, 1996): cat. no. 336.]]> This poster stamp, likely from around 1920, is in the style of Delandre, pseudonym of Gaston Fontanille, and may have been issued by him.

The stamp depicts Cesare Zocchi's 1896 monument to Dante in Trent with the flag of the Kingdom of Italy surrounding the pedestal. At the bottom of the vignette is a quotation from Giosuè Carducci's poem from the same year "Per il monumento di Dante a Trento" (For the Monument of Dante at Trent): "Dante, si spazia da ben cinquecento / anni de l'Alpi sul tremendo spalto. / Ed or s'è fermo, e par ch'aspetti a Trento. / G. Carducci" (Dante, for the span of five hundred years has wandered the tremendous rampart of the Alps. And now he is stopped and seems to wait in Trent.)]]>
The stamp features a portrait of Dante in the upper left corner, St. Peter's Basilica in the upper right corner, a perched eagle clutching a fasces and banner with "S.P.Q.R." in the lower right corner, and "PREGA" (Pray) in the lower left corner. In the center of the stamp is text as follows: "L'armonia Divina / della lingua di / Dante serva ad esal- / tare la Grandezza della / Patria, la Santità della / Religione, l'amore della / Famiglia, la bellezza / della Natura e dell'Arte. / NON CONTAMINATE LA / LINGUA ITALIANA / CON LA / BESTEMMIA" (The divine harmony of Dante's language serves to exalt the greatness of the homeland, the sanctity of religion, family love, the beauty of nature and art. Do not contaminate the Italian language with blasphemy). Below the main text is additional text as follows: "COMITATO CENTRALE / ANTIBLASFEMO / DI VERONA" (Central Antiblasphemy Committee of Verona) and "SOTTO LA PRESIDEN- / ZA ONORARIA DI S.M. IL RE" (Under the honorary presidency of His Majesty the King). The printer's name and city are at the bottom: "MARENGHI & VOTTA - DESENZANO".]]>
In the 19th and 20th centuries, the Italian government approved the creation of loan programs to benefit various causes. These stamps was produced to advertise a particular program benefiting the Società Dante Alighieri which promoted Italian language and culture.]]> Pasquale Villari, "La 'Dante Alighieri' ad Udine," Nuova antologia: rivista di lettere, scienze ed arti 767 (December 1, 1903): 420–421.]]> This poster stamp commemorates the 600th anniversary of Dante's visit to San Gimignano as an ambassador from Florence as well as the death of Blessed Bartolo in 1300. The stamp shows the coat of arms of San Gimignano above a portrait of Bartolo and Giotto's fresco portrait of Dante. The text reads as follows: "VI CENTENARIO / dell'Ambasceria di / DANTE ALIGHIERI / e della morte del concitt.no / STO BARTOLO / SANGIMIGNANO 1899" (6th centenary of the embassy of Dante Alighieri and of the death of the fellow citizen Blessed Bartolo). The stamp was designed by Delille and printed by C. Borrani of Florence, Italy. Malorzo records a black version and a dark brown version.

The Florentine Guelfs sent Dante as an ambassador to San Gimignano where he arrived on May 7, 1300. Dante's mission was to announce the upcoming parliament where a new captain of the Guelf League of Tuscany would be elected and to solicit representatives to the parliament from San Gimignano (The Dante Encyclopedia). A contemporary of Dante, Blessed Bartolo was a Tuscan priest who dedicated much of his life to helping lepers until he succumbed to the disease in 1300.

]]> Portraits of Dante from Giotto to Raffael: A Critical Study with a Concise Iconography (London: Philip Lee Warner, publisher to the Medici Society Ltd.; Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1911), p. 73–150.]]> The Dante Encyclopedia, ed. by Richard Lansing (New York: Garland, 2000), p. 897.]]>