Rome March & Zeppelin
The Fascist political party, with Benito Mussolini as its party leader, planned an insurrection to take place in Rome on October 28, 1922, known as the March on Rome. When fascist demonstrators and Blackshirt paramilitaries entered Rome, Prime Minister Luigi Facta declared a state of siege to activate the military to stop them, but the king overruled him. Instead, the next day the king instead appointed Mussolini as Prime Minister, replacing Facta, and giving the fascists control of the government without armed conflict.
Given that when the Fascist government fell in World War II and the kingdom was dissolved in 1946, it would seem that this decision led to the end of the Italian monarchy. Likening this to more current events in the U.S., it may have been the basis and hope of the insurrection in Washington on January 6, 2021. It makes sense they would model themselves after the Fascists since that’s basically what they are.
The first two rows of this stamp album page, containing four stamps, are in commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the March on Rome. The first one on the second row shows the march itself with a thick crowd of people in Rome.
Graf Zeppelin Airship’s Voyage
Graf (i.e., Count) Ferdinand von Zeppelin was a German military general and an inventor. While in the U.S. during its Civil War, he rode in a hot air balloon used by the military to observe troop movements. The problem he observed with hot air balloons was that they cannot be directed. Still, he was inspired by their potential. This led to the development of an airship that included engines, a keel, and a rudder to be able to steer and propel it forward. He also added a long, large cabin for the transporting of several people. The LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin air ship was one of those airships.
During the 1930s, the Graf Zeppelin airship flew over much of Europe, as well as went to the U.S. and South America. The second half of this album page is for stamps commemorating its flight over Italy, showing the airship flying over historical sites in Italy, mostly in Rome.
Note
The stamps on this page of my album are about the Fascists’ march on Rome that led to them taking power, and about the Zeppelin airship, a motor-propeled balloon. I’ve been eager to complete this page – which I’ve done so recently, thanks to a set of Zepplin stamps I found at a fair price from a dealer near Siena.
With so many completed pages, I’m starting to focus on single, albeit rarer stamps – and less on bulk purchases to fill empty pages. Of course, I still have pages for the recent decades of the Italian Republic to buy and fill. But those can be done rapidly and moderately cheaply.
Contains 10 spots: own 10 – 10 unused, 0 used.
Page is finished.
Album or Web Page Last changed Oct 28, 2022
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 |
Fascist March on Rome
✓ |
A42 |
50c (oct 1932) |
|||
✓ |
A43 |
75c (oct 1932) |
|||
✓ |
E17 |
1.25₤ (oct 1932) |
|||
✓ |
E18 |
2.50₤ (oct 1932) |
Graf Zeppelin Air Ship
✓ |
A45 |
3₤ (apr 1932) |
|||
✓ |
A46 |
5₤ (apr 1932) |
|||
✓ |
A47 |
10₤ (apr 1932) |
|||
✓ |
A48 |
12₤ (apr 1932) |
|||
✓ |
A49 |
15₤ (apr 1932) |
|||
✓ |
A50 |
20₤ (apr 1932) |
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.
