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 Roman Basilicas Issue of 1949 Scott 122-131, E11-E12 The stamps shown at the top of today's article have been presented many times in previous Daily Emails as a means of calling attention to the basilicas themselves or to the saints after whom they were named. Today we bring all the stamps together on the anniversary of their release on March 7, 1949. The set consists of twelve stamps: ten regular issue and two espresso stamps, each of which bore the design of one of the major basilicas and titular churches of Rome. One stamp pictures the pope at that time, Pope Pius XII. As it turns out, this series of stamps can be viewed as the forerunner to the Holy Year of 1950, and served to publicize the major basilicas to be visited by pilgrims during the Jubilee Year. This is one of Vatican City’s better-known and most beautifully-engraved set of definitive stamps. Corrado Mezzana designed the issue and based the designs of the stamps on the 17th and 18th century etchings by Luigi Rossini and Giovanni Battista Piranesi. Basilicas included are: The 100-lire stamp in the set depicted the sitting pope, Pius XII, as was the custom for sets of definitive stamps. In 1952, the stamp picturing the Basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme was reissued and surcharged to accommodate a rate increase for post cards with five words or less, and for printed matter, mailed outside of Italy:  Roman Basilicas: Basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme (surcharged) Scott 154 (1952) Article Links: |
