Rome to Buenos Aires

In 1934, the Italian airline Ala Littoria had its first flight from Rome to Buenos Aires. They flew from Rome to Cagliari, Sardegna, then to Bathurst in Gambia in west Africa for one last refueling before crossing the Atlantic to Bahia, Brazil. From there to Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires.

The top set of stamps on this page commemorate that first flight. They’re overprinted with the words, Primo Volo Diretto (i.e., First Direct Flight). It also says, Trimotore which references the Savoia Marchetti S71 trimotor aircraft used for the flight. The last names of the pilots, Francis Lombardi and Franco Mazzotti are also listed. The crew also included an engineer, Marino Battaglia, and a radio operator, Davide Giulini.

Oasis Circuit

The bottom set of air mail stamps on this album page are part of a set of stamps to that were issued for the Eighth Tripoli Trade Expo. for use in Libya (see the Life in Libia page). However, this batch was overprinted with the text, Circuito delle Oasi, Tripoli, Maggio 1934 - XII – that translates in English to Oasis Circuit, Tripoli, May 1934 - XII. It’s referring to the Mellaha racetrack near Tripoli, which is located near an oasis.

The fourteen-kilometer track was built previously, but for the eighth annual Tripoli Grand Prix held in 1934, several structures were built under the direction of the aviator and then Governor of Libya, Italo Balbo. Besides watch towers for race officials and journalists, a 300-meter long covered viewing stand was constructed to hold eight-thousand people. The new, then modern facility was first used in 1934. Incidentally, I don’t know what the XII overprinted on the stamps indicates.

Note

The first three stamps on the middle row were used for money orders. They’re described on a previous page, on the St. Anthony page. The single, small stamp at th e end of the same row was used for private mail delivery service. That type of mail is described in the Libyan album, on the Private page.

Contains 15 spots: own 5 – 5 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

Rome - Buenos Aires Flights

1.1	✓	A30	Rome to Buenos Aires Flight	2₤ (jan 1934) air mail, red brown
1.2	✓	A31	Rome to Buenos Aires Flight	3₤ (jan 1934) air mail, yellowish green
2.1	✓	A32	Rome to Buenos Aires Flight	5₤ (jan 1934) air mail, bistre
2.2	✓	A33	Rome to Buenos Aires Flight	10₤ (jan 1934) air mail, carmine rose

Money Order Stamps

3.1	SV7	Money Order Stamp	20c (may 1926) services, light blue
3.2	SV8	Money Order Stamp	40c (may 1926) services, green
3.3	SV9	Money Order Stamp	50c (may 1926) services, violet

Private Delivery

3.4

✓

RA1

Recapito Autorizzato

10c (mar 1931)
pvt. del., reddish brown

Eighth Tripoli Trade Expo.

4.1	A34	Seaplane and Tripoli coast	50c (may 1934) air mail, carmine red
4.2	A35	Plane over Mosque	75c (may 1934) air mail, yellow bistre
5.1	A36	Seaplane and Tripoli coast	5+1₤ (may 1934) air mail, brown
5.2	A37	Plane over Mosque	10+2₤ (may 1934) air mail, grey blue
5.3	A38	Airplane & Dromedary	25+3₤ (may 1934) air mail, violet
6.1	A39	Airplane and Arabs in Desert	2.25₤ (may 1934) air mail, orange
6.2	A40	Airplane and Arabs in Desert	4.50+1₤ (may 1934) air mail, carmine

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.