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On November 10, 1947, a second issue of airmail stamps was placed on sale to meet the increased postal rates. Three different designs were used for the motifs of these seven stamps. 
The 1 and 5 lire stamps again depicted the Dove of Peace. This symbol of the peaceful use of the airways differs from that of the first airmail issue in that the dove is depicted over the basilica and square of St. Peter's. 
The Holy House of Loreto again is reproduced on the 4 and 25 lire values of this issue. The House had found its anal resting place on the Lauretum Hill on December 9, 1294. The church of Sanctuaro della Santa Casa was built to enshrine the little chapel where the Word was made Flesh. The church was begun in 1465, and is one of the finest in all of Italy. The actual Holy House was richly encased in marble and adorned with carvings relating to the miraculous flight. Inside the House, measuring 15' X 15' X 30' without foundations, is a Madonna made of cedar wood taken from the Vatican Gardens. During the reign of Pope Benedict XV the Holy Father declared Our Lady of Loreto as the Patroness of Aviation with December 8th as the feast day in the Church of the Holy House. 
 The remaining stamps of this series, (15, 50 and 100 lire) depict the obelisk brought from Heliopolis to Rome by the Emperor Caligula and raised on the "spina" of his Circus. The "needle" stood at this location for a few centuries and witnessed the persecution of Christians; even St. Peter met his martyrdom near the obelisk. In 1586, Pope Sixtus V ordered the obelisk moved to the center of St. Peter's Square and en-trusted Domenica Fontana with the task. The obelisk was lowered and placed on rollers to be moved the short distance to the square. It took nine hundred men and fifty-two shafts to get this three hundred twenty-two ton monument in place. While the obelisk was being raised on September 10, 1586, silence was imposed under pain of death on the bystanders less they distract the workmen. As the huge piece of granite was moved into position on the thirteen rollers that had transported it from the Circus, eight winches turned by sixteen horses and eight men started to raise the obelisk. Suddenly the ropes began to strain and look as if they would break. The silence was shattered with a shout of, "Wet the ropes!" by a sailor named Bresca of San Remo. The ropes contracted and the obelisk was raised. A bronze cross, containing a fragment of the True Cross, was placed on the top of the obelisk. Thus a pagan monument supports the beginning of Christianity. What a wonderful crown!

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