Yet they issued them, as they technically say. Perhaps precisely because they knew they would be divisive – to put it mildly. Certainly discussed, often questionable. Or maybe they did it for opportunity, not to displease the political power or to surf the emotional wave of current events. They are the stamps of controversy. The stamps and leaflets that Poste Italiane, in recent years, have produced and put into circulation at the proposal of ministries, bodies and political representatives. Who have used and use philately to remember “their” history. And maybe rewrite a narrative. The most recent cases see a hyperactivity of the right led by the FdI.
The issue of a stamp with which the Ministry of Business and Made in Italy wanted to remember Maffeo Pantaleoni (we write about it today in “Stones” above Republic). Who was Pantaleoni? Economist, central figure of fascist thought, among the most unscrupulous Italian anti-Semites: he was a “master” of Giovanni Preziosidoyen of anti-Semitism and inspector general for race appointed by Mussolini. When the ministry led by the minister Adolfo Urso proposed dedicating a notch to Pantaleoni, Poste proceeded. The issue went more or less unnoticed. Or at least it didn’t raise the fuss that arose, in June 2024, for Italo Foschi. Founder and first president of the Roma Calcio sports association, of course. But also a key figure of Mussolini’s squadrism. Foschi is the man who was congratulated in 1924 Amerigo Dumini that is, the leader of the fascist squad he killed Giacomo Matteotti. The issue of a stamp for the first Romanist president in the centenary year of the Matteotti crime – to whom a special stamp was also dedicated – infuriated the entire centre-left. Result? After a lot of protests and questions – with the request to Poste to withdraw it – Urso’s ministry decided to remove the stamp from the ministry’s website, effectively not recognizing it online. But Foschi is regularly on sale at the post office. “The issue has been beautifully ignored, perhaps waiting for people to forget about it,” he explained Claudio Baccarinphilatelic expert, signature de The Collector of Bolaffi and secretary of the Italian Philatelic Press Union. At the official ceremony for the presentation of the leaflet dedicated to Foschi – consisting of a stamp plus two letter seals – Urso was not there. They were there Picchio De Sisti and the Roma fans.
The Pantaleoni and Foschi cases are the latest in a long series. Stamps from political-philatelic debate, even heated ones. Much has been said about the dentil with which it was celebrated Giovanni Gentilefascist minister. But the stamp issued a few days ago in honor of Silvio Berlusconi. On 29 September the founder of Forza Italia and several times prime minister would have turned 88. Poste Italiane has implemented the decree signed on 11 April by the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella and countersigned by the prime minister Melons – and published in the Official Gazette on 27 May – which authorized the postal commemoration of the Knight. Those who considered the naming inappropriate were evidently disappointed. Among others: Corrado Augiaswho defined Berlusconi as a “brilliant entrepreneur but deplorable statesman”. And the Wikimafia association, which promoted a petition against the initiative. The Presidential Decree of 11 April also ratified the emissions – again by the Ministry of Business and Made in Italy – for Giuseppe Tatarellavice-president of the first Berlusconi government, first from MSI and then from Alleanza Nazionale; and, indeed, Giovanni Gentile, minister of public education in the first Mussolini government. In this second case the proponent was the right-wing intellectual Marcello Venezianiwith whom the rector of the University for Foreigners of Siena argued Tomaso Montanari.
There are often incomprehensible logics behind the stamp issues and the choice of characters to dedicate them to. Because if it is true, as it is true, that some tributes to protagonists – men and women – of entertainment, sport and culture are generally “shared” and appreciated, then there are choices that have sparked bitter discussions. The terrain of divisions is almost always politics. After a stamp was issued in June 2014 in memory of Enrico Berlinguer on the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of his death, shortly, Alfio Di Marco – then head of communications for MSI-Social Right and already a candidate for the European elections with Fiamma Tricolore – proposed to the Ministry of Economic Development to produce a stamp dedicated to Giorgio Almirante on the centenary of his birth (27 June 1914). “Going to the post office or tobacconist and finding a stamp from Almirante and one from Berlinguer next to each other can mean a highly symbolic moment of dialogue and discussion,” said Di Marco. Other names, other cases, other controversies. In September 2021, for D’Annunzio Week, Poste issued a philatelic postmark and historical postcards to remember the “Vate” D’Annunzio. Last June 10th the “centenary of the disappearance” was remembered – the issue was labeled with these words, which made one shudder given that he was killed, not “disappeared” – of Giacomo Matteotti. The “centenary of his passing” formula was also used on 6 September 2023 for the tribute to Don Giovanni Minzoniwho was also attacked and killed by fascist squadristi (in August 1923). It is the revisionist-reductionist lexicon of the government right.
To find a philatelic pax we must remember other bipartisan “dedications”: that to the former minister Frattinithat a David Sassoli and that to Jole Santellifirst female president of Calabria. And finally the big names in entertainment and sport: Mike Bongiorno with his “Allegria!”, Stefano D’Orazio Pooh drummer, the cycling champion Felice Gimondithe Italian tennis players who won the Davis Cup, just to give a few examples. No one here had any objections. Almost. Notice: 2024 will end with 82 stamps issued. The guidelines contemplate 60 per year. There is therefore a recent “stamp”. And one thing is certain: the controversies, case here case there, will not end.
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