Holy Year in Islam
The six stamps on the third and fourth row this album page are in commemoration of the Holy Year, or Jubilee, of 1925 announced by Pope Pius XI. The stamps are of sites in Rome, the four papal basilicas: Basilica of Saint Mary Major; Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran; Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls; and St. Peter’s Basilica. I’ve been to all four of these basilicas in Rome. In fact, I have a chapter of my new novel (i.e, The Pages of St. John) that’s set inside Saint Paul Outside the Walls.
The last pair of stamps in this set relate to the Holy Door. Normally, these particular doors of St. Peter’s Basilica are cemented shut from the inside. They are openned at the start of a Jubilee and resealed at the end. It’s supposed to be symbolic of entering the gates of Heaven and being forgiven of sins (John 10:9 and Luke 11:9).
What’s ironic about these stamps, as well as the other Catholic stamps is that the people in the colonies where they’re used are mostly, almost completely Muslim. They must not have felt very good about using stamps with Christian images. It shows how culturally insensitive was the Italian adminstration.
Manzoni
One of the most famous Italian novels is The Betrothed (i.e., I Promessi Sposi) by Alessandro Manzoni. It’s a classic for Italian: the equivalent of Mark Twain for Americans. Unfortunately, because they had to read it when they were children in school and because of its length – the Penguin Classics paperback is 720 pages – Italians often tell me they hated it. Perhaps they should take it off the required reading list and trust in the writing itself will attrack adult readers. I read it in English when I was about 30 years old. I enjoyed it very much and thought it one of best novels ever.
The first set of stamps on this album page are related to Manzoni and his novel, The Betrothed. The first four show scenes from the novel, including the heroine of the story, Lucia Mondella. The last two show Manzoni’s home and an image of him. Incidentally, there’s a great statue of Manzoni in Milan near where I live.
King’s Jubilee
In the Summer of 1900, an Italian-American shot Umberto I four times, killing him in the city of Monza, south of Milan. He was buried in the Pantheon in Rome: I saw this tomb. Umberto I was succeeded by his son, Vittorio Emanuele III.
Vittorio Emanuele III would reign for forty-six years and lead his country, often successfully, in wars – including both world wars. In fact, their success at the Battle of Vittorio Veneto against Austria led to the end of World War I. As a result, the king ws sometimes called Il Re Soldato (i.e., the Soldier King). He was also called, Sciaboletta (i.e., Little Saber) due to his height: he was 153 centimeters high (i.e., 5 feet).
The last set of stamps on this page – with the design of the king wearing a military dress uniform, including several medals on his chest – were designed by Carlo Parmeggiani. This stamp design was in celebration of the Vittorio Emanuele III’s royal jubilee: twenty-five years as king of the Kingdom of Italy. That seems to be why he was in dress uniform for the portrait.
Note
I don’t have the Manzoni stamps, yet. All except for the last one depicting Manzoni are relatively cheap. The one stamp of him, though, is expensive. It’s more expensive without one of the colony overprints, but it’s still expensive. These stamps are generally sold as a set. So I don’t have any of them. After I get the cheaper stamps on other pages in this album, then I’ll get these.
Contains 17 spots: own 16 – 16 unused, 0 used.
Album or Web Page Last changed Jul 10, 2025
Stamp Details
The table below lists information about the stamps shown on this page of Lighthouse’s stamp album. For more details about a particular stamp, click on its description. That will take you to the related web page of Colnect.
spot |
own |
catalog |
subject |
description |
comment |
Alessandro Manzoni
✓ |
11 |
10c (apr 1924) |
|||
✓ |
12 |
15c (apr 1924) |
|||
✓ |
13 |
30c (apr 1924) |
|||
✓ |
14 |
50c (apr 1924) |
|||
✓ |
15 |
1₤ (apr 1924) |
|||
✓ |
16 |
5₤ (apr 1924) |
Holy Year
✓ |
17 |
20+10c (jun 1925) |
|||
✓ |
18 |
30+15c (jun 1925) |
|||
✓ |
19 |
50+25c (jun 1925) |
|||
✓ |
20 |
60+30c (jun 1925) |
|||
✓ |
21 |
1+0.50₤ (jun 1925) |
|||
✓ |
22 |
5+2.50₤ (jun 1925) |
Royal Jubilee - Parmeggiani
✓ |
23 |
60c (nov 1925) |
|||
✓ |
24 |
1₤ (nov 1925) |
|||
25 |
1.25₤ (jul 1926) |
||||
✓ |
26 |
1₤ (nov 1925) |
|||
✓ |
27 |
1.25₤ (jul 1926) |
Footnotes
Spot refers to the postion of the stamp on the album page (e.g., 3.2 indicates row 3, position 2).
Amt. is an abbreviation for the face amount of the stamp.
Own indicates the stamp status: ✓ for unused; ✗ for used or canceled; ⭑ signifies I ordered one; ; ✨ indicates it was bought recently; ✠ means an auction bid is pending; and ◎ is used, and it costs too much for unused.
To search by catalog number, go to the search box and enter it in the catalog number box. However, it’s a bit broken; I need to fix it.
