Dante Alighieri has appeared on over 100 stamps through the decades, with Italy responsible for most. He has also popped up on stamps from the  USA, USSR, Ecuador, Monaco, Vatican, Panama, Uruguay, Germany and Guatemala to name a few countries. The 600th anniversary of his death (1921) produced some classic designs which used a familiar stern image.   

1921 Italy – 600th anniversary

Best of 2021

The 700th anniversary of his death, in 2021, saw a small number of interesting stamps issued. Italy took the theme and turned it on it’s head. Instead of the traditional dour and quite often scary visage, Poste Italiane updated Dante giving him a youthful, modern feel. Of the stamps issued, I think this just may be the best.  Although I tend to love traditional designs, including the severe engraving above, the 2021 stamps do more to capture a vibrancy missing in earlier stamps. He’s no longer a “long dead author” (as one of my old university profs described him) but energetic and alive. 

 A trio designers each took one part of the Divine Comedy and re-interpreted both Dante and the poem. They are:

• Paolo Bocci with Paradisso showing “The passing of the baton in which a young man, with his head surrounded by laurel leaves, iconography that has always been representative of the poet Dante Alighieri, rejoices in an acrobatic jump holding a pen in one hand, surrounded by letters and sheets of paper.” 
• Francesco Di Pietro’s Purgatory “depicts the figure of a man, whose features recall the poet Dante Alighieri, who stands out on the platform of a subway station; behind him restless figures seem hypnotized by bright screens, around float some books.”
• Corrado Veneziano who created Inferno from his painting “L’Inferno, evocando Buffalmacco”.

All three created an unexpected energy and modernity to Dante’s image and I wasn’t expecting this. I think that’s what made them so enjoyable. They managed to breath a bit of life into the theme. And of the three? I lean towards Di Pietro’s haunting Purgatory. Not sure why, it’s just one of those visual things. It grabs me every time I look at it. 

If you were one of the lucky few to be at the Spazio Filatelia in Piazza San Silvestro, Rome, on Sept. 14, Veneziano was there signing stamps and cards. If you are one of the ones who managed to get a signed postcard and would like to share a scan, drop a comment to me. I’d love to show it. 

Coming in second is San Marino. They too decided not to use the traditional grim visage. Designer Davide Pagliardini opted for a set of stamps highlighting the fonts commonly used in manuscripts during Dante’s time. It’s a nice twist on the theme.

 Best cancel

Despite producing a rather severe set of stamps, Liechtenstein’s cancel was the best. It’s simplicity in itself, and anyone who has read the Divine Comedy will recognize the circles of Hell. 

So what about the rest of the stamps? The following countries issued: Czech Republic, Italy, Liechtenstein, Sovereign Order of Malta, San Marino and the Vatican. Here they are in alphabetical order: 

Czech Republic 

souvenir sheet

2 stamps, souvenir sheet of 4 stamps

Designer: Marina Richter

Release date: Sept 8, 2021

Georgia

1 stamp

Designer: no details

Release date: 

Italy

stamps in order: Paradiso, Purgatorio, Inferno

stamped postcards

philatelic cards – click on them to super size for details

folder and info bulletin

3 stamps, 3 stamped postcards, cancel, trifolder, info bulletin, 3 philatelic cards

Info bulletin signed by Angelo di Stasi, President of the Commission for the study and processing of postal value cards of the Ministry of Economic Development and the trifolder contains 3 FDCs that are not available for separate purchase.

Designers:
Paolo Bocci – Paradisso 
Francesco Di Pietro – Purgatory 
Corrado Veneziano – Inferno 

 Release date: September 14, 2021

Liechtenstein

stamps

 postcards

FDC

2 stamps, 1 FDC, cancel, 2 postcards, souvenir sheet

Designer: Thomas Giger, Seewis im Prättigau

Release date: September 6, 2021

Sovereign Order of Malta 

 NOTE: Issued for the Order of Malta, not Malta Post.

Artwork: 

• Florentine School: Ms. BR 215 c.78 v. “Divine Comedy” National Central Library. Florence 
• Raffaello Sanzio: Il Parnaso, (part.). Dante –  Signature Room. Vatican City 
• Vision of Paradise according to Dante From the fifteenth century version of the “Divine Comedy” Vatican Apostolic Library. Vatican City 

Release date: May 31, 2021

San Marino

souvenir sheets

3 stamps, cancel, sheets of 4

Shows different verses from the Divine Comedy  / include section on the typeface used. 

Designer: Davide Pagliardini

Release date: June 1, 2021

Vatican 

1 stamp, souvenir sheet of 4

Designer/artist: Gabriele Dell’Otto

Release date: September 8, 2021

Uruguay

1 stamp on a souvenir sheet, cancel

Designer: Daniel Pereyra

Release date: November 24, 2021

And that’s all I could find. If you know of one I missed, let me know.  Not as many as I expected, but the pickings are interesting. 

If you enjoyed this theme, why not check out something else from my list of Thematic pages.

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