Poste Vaticane | Philatelic Stamps

Vatican City

23 June 2020

EUROPA — Ancient Postal Routes

Technical Specifications:

Face values: €1.10 – €1.15
Size: 40 x 30 mm
Sheet from: 10 stamps
Printout: Cartor (France)
Series price: Euro 2.25
Quantity printed: 45,000 complete series

JUNE 23, 2020

The stamps of the State of Vatican City for the issue Europa 2020, with the theme Ancient Postal Routes, reproduce two “vignettes” of the Corpus Agrimensorum Romanorum of the 6th century, contained in the Pal. Lat. 1564, manuscript of the 16th century. IX of the Vatican Apostolic Library, which served as a model for the Peutingerian Tabula, an 11th-century road map, which pointed to the cursus publicus, the ancient postal system of the Romans, in red. The first reproduces the vignette of the Colony Axernias (Terracina), with a section of the Appia way. The second reproduces the vignette of the Colony Iulia (Torino), with the intersection of its main roads, the Thistle Maximus (north-south direction) with the Decumano Massimo (East-West direction), which extended outside the walls to the four cardinal points.

VATICAN – Ufficio Filatelico e Numismatico – Governatorato
The 1,10 euro stamp reproduces the illustration of the Colonia Iulia (Torino), with the intersection of its main roads, the Cardo Massimo (north-south direction) with the Decumano Massimo (east-west direction), which extended outside the walls and joined the city to the four cardinal points.

The illustration is part of the Corpus Agrimensorum Romanorum (6th Century), contained in the Pal. lat. 1564, the manuscript of the 9th Century of the Vatican Library, which served as a model for the Tabula peutingeriana, road map of the 11th Century, which indicated in red the cursus publicus, the ancient postal system of the Romans.

To emphasize the importance of postal routes on the stamp, they are indicated in gold.