600th Death Anniversary of Dante Alighieri (Centenario Dantesco. MCMXXI).
Description: Series of 3 stamps with 3 subjects. Impression 400.000.
Date of issue: September 28, 1921. Valid up to December 31, 1921.
Dante (1265-1321), more then any other, contributed to create the Italian language.
He was the first to write about Italy as a geographical unity with a collective culture.
He divorced the religious rule of the Pope and the secular rule of the king or emperor.
From the end of the 18th century Dante became a symbol of the justification and necessity of an Italian national state, and he was used to legitimise the political unification of Italy.
His most famous works are "La divina Commedia" (The Divine Commedy),
"De vulgari eloquentia" (On the Language of the People) and "De Monarchia" (On Monarchy).
All stamps have the text on bottom panel: Centenario Dantesco MCMXXI (Centennial celebration of Dante. 1921),
and the abbreviation S.N.D.A. (Societa nazionale Dante Alighieri).
The arms of Savoy not depicted.
Date created: 22/03/00 11:42:35