Castle Definitives
On September 22, 1980, Italy issued the first twenty-seven stamps of the Castelli d’Italia (Castles of Italy) series of definitive stamps. They replaced the Siracusana series (see Syracuse Definitives page), which had been in use since 1953. Each stamp is square and shows a notable Italian castle (e.g., Castel Sant’Angelo in Rome, the Castello Sforzesco in Milan and Castel del Monte in Andria). The painter Egidio Vangelli set up the series, though various artists drew the individual subjects.
The castles were chosen for their cultural and tourist value and so the subjects would be spread evenly across the regions. Hence the theme could also grow, because the post office wouldn’t run out of subjects if more values were needed. Basically, that is what happened. The series ended up with about 33 denominations from 5 lire to 1400 lire, and most of them came out between 1980 and 1992. Some values were added later than the first batch – the 1400 lire stamp showing the Castello Caldoresco in Vasto, for example, was issued in 1983.
The stamps were printed in sheets by rotogravure, offset and intaglio. Coil versions were also made in a smaller format for vending machines. As a result, there are many varieties, e.g., shifted or missing colors, weak printing and different perforations. The rarest is the yellow 100 lire stamp that is missing its red color. Some values were reprinted in rotogravure in 1994 with brighter colors. The series is generally said to have been replaced in 1998 by La donna nell’arte (Women in Art), though the Italian page is not clear on exactly when the castles stopped being sold.
Note
I remember many of these castle stamps when I was a kid. My mother used to write to our family in Sicily, maybe four letters a year. She spoke Sicilian, but struggled to write our cousins, Concetta and Ninfa. She sometimes would ask a friend to help translate the letters. Many of the envelops from Sicily had one of these stamps on them.
I don’t care for the larger size. For definitives, I feel they should be the standard small postage stamp size. The castle definitives on the third album page, the first two rows are a nice size for definitives. I like them better.
The stamps on the second album page, on the bottom two rows are pretty cool. They’re higher denominations, so they’re made with features that make them more difficult to forge. That was more of a problem back in the beginning, in the 1800s, but not so much in the late Twentieth Century. I guess for stamps with a face value of 1500 to 10,000 lira forgeries was a possibility.
spot |
own |
catalog |
subject |
description |
comment |
Italian Castles - Definitives
✓ |
1504 |
5₤ (sep 1980) |
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✓ |
1505 |
10₤ (sep 1980) |
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✓ |
1506 |
20₤ (sep 1980) |
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✓ |
1506A |
30₤ (aug 1981) |
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✓ |
1507 |
40₤ (sep 1980) |
|||
✓ |
1508 |
50₤ (sep 1980) |
|||
✓ |
1509 |
60₤ (sep 1980) |
|||
✓ |
1509A |
70₤ (aug 1981) |
|||
✓ |
1509B |
80₤ (aug 1981) |
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✓ |
1510 |
90₤ (sep 1980) |
|||
✓ |
1511 |
100₤ (sep 1980) |
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✓ |
1512 |
120₤ (sep 1980) |
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✓ |
1513 |
150₤ (sep 1980) |
|||
✓ |
1514 |
170₤ (sep 1980) |
|||
✓ |
1515 |
180₤ (sep 1980) |
|||
✓ |
1516 |
200₤ (sep 1980) |
|||
✓ |
1517 |
250₤ (sep 1980) |
|||
✓ |
1518 |
300₤ (sep 1980) |
|||
✓ |
1519 |
350₤ (sep 1980) |
|||
✓ |
1520 |
400₤ (sep 1980) |
|||
✓ |
1521 |
450₤ (sep 1980) |
|||
✓ |
1522 |
500₤ (sep 1980) |
|||
✓ |
1523 |
600₤ (sep 1980) |
|||
✓ |
1524 |
700₤ (sep 1980) |
|||
✓ |
1525 |
800₤ (sep 1980) |
|||
✓ |
1527 |
1000₤ (sep 1980) |
|||
✓ |
1527A |
1400₤ (jul 1983) |
spot |
own |
catalog |
subject |
description |
comment |
Italian Castles - Definitives
✓ |
1528 |
50₤ (mar 1988) |
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✓ |
1528A |
50₤ (jul 1985) |
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✓ |
1530D |
450₤ (jul 1985) |
|||
✓ |
1530 |
450₤ (mar 1988) |
|||
✓ |
1528B |
100₤ (mar 1988) |
|||
✓ |
1530E |
500₤ (mar 1988) |
|||
✓ |
1530Ea |
600₤ (mar 1991) |
|||
✓ |
1530F |
650₤ (mar 1988) |
|||
✓ |
1530G |
750₤ (mar 1988) |
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✓ |
1530h |
800₤ (mar 1991) |
|||
✓ |
1508I |
50₤ (oct 1991) |
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✓ |
1805 |
380₤ (feb 1987) |
|||
✓ |
1522A |
550₤ (feb 1984) |
|||
✓ |
1522Aa |
550₤ (feb 1984) |
|||
✓ |
1523A |
650₤ (mar 1986) |
|||
✓ |
1524A |
750₤ (sep 1990) |
|||
✓ |
1442B |
20000₤ (jan 1987) |
|||
✓ |
1525A |
850₤ (mar 1992) |
|||
✓ |
1516II |
200₤ (feb 1994) |
|||
✓ |
1517II |
250₤ (feb 1994) |
|||
✓ |
1518II |
300₤ (feb 1994) |
|||
✓ |
1521II |
450₤ (feb 1994) |
spot |
own |
catalog |
subject |
description |
comment |
Italian Castles - Definitives
✓ |
1529 |
120₤ (sep 1980) |
|||
✓ |
1528 |
30₤ (sep 1980) |
|||
✓ |
1530 |
170₤ (sep 1980) |
|||
✓ |
1530A |
200₤ (sep 1981) |
|||
✓ |
1530B |
300₤ (sep 1981) |
|||
✓ |
1530C |
400₤ (jun 1983) |
Turreted Italia - Definitives
✓ |
1438 |
1500₤ (may 1979) |
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✓ |
1439 |
2000₤ (apr 1979) |
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✓ |
1440 |
3000₤ (mar 1979) |
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✓ |
1441 |
4000₤ (feb 1979) |
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✓ |
1442 |
5000₤ (dec 1978) |
|||
✓ |
1442A |
10000₤ (jun 1983) |
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.
