Letter Mail from and to the Old Italian States 1850 - 1870
by Mario Mentaschi & Thomas Mathà
1 - Domestic mail of the Old Italian States 5 frames
2 - Mail exchanged between the Old Italian States
4 - Mail exchanged with the Kingdom of Italy and San Marino
Austrian Venetia until the Italian occupation in 1866 1 frame
"Patrimonio di San Pietro" until the Italian occupation in September 1870
and San Marino 2 frames
Mail exchanged with the Italian Kingdom and S. Marino
Austrian Venetia prior to the Italian occupation
In Venetia and in the part of the Mantua Province still under Austrian
ruling, the Austrian postage stamps, denominated in soldi, and the Austrian
postal rates were in use.
The lack of a postal convention
Until the middle of September 1859, during the breakdown of direct communications,
it was possible to send letters to the Kingdom of Sardinia "via Switzerland." "Via
Switzerland" was also chosen, after the restoration of the postal communications,
to prepay postage of letters to destination.
Fig. 21 June 28, 1860, letter from Venice to Brescia. It was prepaid 35 soldi, the rate to send a letter weighing less than 10 grams, paid to destination "via Switzerland." But since this letter weighed more than 10 grams, but less than 17.5 grams, it had to be prepaid 45 soldi to match the Sardinian double rate. Due to the insufficient franking it was not routed "via Switzerland," but considered paid to the Austro-Sardinian border; it was charged on arrival the double Sardinian rate of 40 centesimi.
From September 1859 until the restoration of the Austro-Sardinian postal convention, it was possible to exchange mail bags at the Austro-Italian border. Postage had to be paid to the border and was charged on arrival for the inland postage of the State of destination. Until December 31, 1859, in Lombardy the Austrian currency was in circulation and postage due was expressed in Austrian soldi: 8 soldi corresponded to the 20 centesimi of the Sardinian rate.
The restoration of the postal convention
From May 15, 1862, the Austro-Sardinian convention of 1854 was restored.
This made it possible to prepay postage to destination. Printed-matter
rate was 2 soldi for every 17.5 grams of weight, independent of distance.
On June 19, 1866, due to the war, the postal communications were interrupted.
The Italian occupation of Venetia until the Cormons armistice
After the Sadowa defeat, Austria withdrew its army from Italy to defend
the Austrian territory threatened by the Prussian army. Before the Cormons
armistice, dated August 12, 1866, the Italian army occupied most of Venetia
and part of the province of Mantua. The Italian postage stamps and rates
were immediately introduced in the occupied territories.
The territories which remained under Austrian ruling after the
Cormons Armistice
Until the peace of Vienna, dated October 2, 1860, the Austrian army remained
in Venice, in Mantua and in the Verona Province, where the Austrian postage
stamps and rates remained in use. From September 20, 1860, it was possible
to exchange mail between Venetian territories under Italian control with
the territories still occupied by the Austrian army. Letters could be franked
with the postage stamps and rates of the posting Administration.
The liberation of Mantua, Verona and Venice
As a result of the Vienna peace treaty, Venetia and the Mantua Provinces
were assigned to the Italian Kingdom. On October 19, the Italian army
entered Venice which was the last to be freed. Italian postage stamps
and rates were immediately introduced.
" Patrimonio di San Pietro" prior to the Italian occupation
After the occupation of Marche, Umbria and Sabina only the "Patrimonio
di San Pietro" remained under Papal rule. The Emperor Napoleon III personally
assured the integrity of the Papal domain. In 1870, as a consequence of
the defeat suffered from the Prussians, the French army left the Papal
territory and the Italian army occupied Latium and Rome, bringing to an
end the temporal power of the Pope. On October 9, 1870, as a consequence
of a plebiscite, Vittorio Emanuele II decreed the annexation to the Italian
Kingdom. Although the Italian lira was introduced from June 18, 1866, the
postage stamps denominated in bajocchi remained in use until September
1867. The value in Italian lire given to the bajocchi postage stamps was
the postal rate of exchange of 1 bajocco = 5 centesimi. The _ bajocco was
given the value of 3 centesimi. On September 21, 1867, a new issue in Italian
centesimi was distributed.
The postal communication with the Sardinian Kingdom and, subsequently, with the Kingdom of Italy
The lack of a postal convention
Until September 30, 1867, letters sent to the different provinces of the
Kingdom of Sardinian, and subsequently to the Kingdom of Italy, had to
be paid to the Papal border. They were charged on arrival the Italian
domestic rate of 20 centesimi for each 10 grams of weight. From June
18, 1866, when the Italian lira was introduced, the single-letter rate
to the former Papal territories was 2 bajocchi corresponding to 10 centesimi;
to any other Italian destination it was 4 bajocchi, corresponding to
20 centesimi.
Fig. 22 Letter from Viterbo to Filottrano (Marche). It was franked in the Papal States with both the Papal 2 bajocchi and the Italian 20 centesimi which was obliterated in transit at Narni. Postage was considered paid to destination as confirmed by the lack of postage-due indication.From October 1, 1867, it was possible to prepay postage of letters mailed to Italy; therefore, the Papal franking in Italian centesimi and the Italian application of the postage due was possible only for 10 days. From 1861, it was possible to carry the unpaid or the insufficiently paid letters to Italy "via France." The addressee had to pay 60 centesimi for each 7.5 grams of weight. When the letters exchanged with the Kingdom of Italy were franked with both the Italian and the Papal postage stamps for an amount which corresponded to the postage-due amount to be charged at destination, the letters arrived at destination free of charge.
The agreement between Postal Administrations
An agreement between the Sardinian and Papal postal Administrations provided,
from October 1, 1867, the exchange of mail paid to destination. The direct
agreement between postal Administrations was necessary to overcome the
Pope's opposition to a postal convention. Postage of letters paid to
destination was 20 centesimi for each 10 grams of weight. The prepaid
rate of printed matter was 2 centesimi for each 40 grams of weight or
for each newspaper mailed.
The agreement permitted sending registered letters. The registration fee amounted to 40 centesimi
The Italian occupation
On September 11, 1870, the Italian army started the invasion of the Papal
States which ended on September 20, 1870, with the taking of Rome. Italian
postage stamps were distributed from October 1, 1870. The use of the
Papal postage stamps was tolerated during 1870 and also during the first
months of 1871. The latest recorded use of the Papal postage stamps is
February 25, 1871. From November 1, 1870, the Italian rates were introduced
in occupied Latium.
San Marino
Use of the Papal postage stamps and rates
Until June 1859 the Republic of San Marino belonged to the Papal postal
direction of Rimini; therefore letters to the Papal States were rated
as domestic rate coming from the Rimini direction. The papal postage
stamps remained in use until August 31, 1859, like in the Romagne.
Fig. 23 July 20, 1868, large piece of a wrapper used to send printed matter from Rome to Ancona. The 56-times rate is the highest printed-matter franking with Papal postage stamps denominated in centesimi that has been recorded.
Use of the Italian postage stamps and rates
The Sardinian postage stamps and rates were introduced, like in Romagne,
from February 1, 1860. A postal agreement with the Italian Kingdom, dated
March 22, 1862, confirmed the use of the Italian postage stamps and rates
in San Marino.
© The Royal Philatelic Society London 2000 - 2008. Top
