One of the most fascinating aspects of the Italian States, at least in my view, is the extraordinary variety of shades that characterises many stamps. A classic example is the fourth issue of the Kingdom of Sardinia: for the 10 centesimi value alone, the Sassone catalogue lists no fewer than 50 different colours. A significant number of stamps from the other duchies also display a remarkable chromatic variety, albeit to a lesser extent.
Classifying the colour of a stamp is an exercise that is as engaging as it is complex. It requires not only the availability of a reference collection that is as complete as possible, but also a trained eye accustomed to this type of analysis. However, these elements alone are not sufficient.
There is, in fact, an aspect of fundamental importance, well known to the great experts of the past — such as Guglielmo Oliva, Luigi Raybaudi, Enzo Diena and Silvano Sorani — but which today is practically ignored: the meaning of the colour shades adopted by the Sassone catalogue.
The most serious mistake that can be made is to assume that Sassone colours can be directly assimilated to those of a standardised system such as Pantone. This is absolutely not the case. If the semantic value of each chromatic definition used by the catalogue is not understood, the very foundations for a correct and informed classification of colours are lost.
I will go further. Not only, for example, does a bistro arancio listed in the Sassone catalogue have no correspondence within the Pantone system, but the same bistro arancio assumes different meanings depending on the issue to which it refers. The bistro arancio of a 3 baj stamp of the Papal States does not coincide with that of a 10 centesimi of the Neapolitan Provinces, nor with that of a 10 centesimi of the Kingdom of Sardinia: what changes is not merely the shade, but the very meaning of the colour itself.
To fully appreciate the importance of understanding the Sassone colour classification, I will focus on two shades of the 20 centesimi (perforated) of the third issue of the Papal States: magenta and solferino.
Magenta is a colour that everyone immediately recognises: it is, not by chance, one of the fundamental colours used in printer cartridges. Before entering into the detailed explanation, it is useful to visually compare magenta according to the Pantone system with the magenta defined by the Sassone catalogue, as applied to the Papal States issue.
Pantone Process Magenta U
Cover sent from Rome on 26 October 1870 to Livorno, arriving the following day, franked with a pair of perforated 20 centesimi in magenta, a rare multiple-rate franking (Ferrario Auction, 26 June 2022)
Bearing in mind that this is, in any case, a scan of the cover and that the colour is therefore not reproduced with perfect fidelity, the two shades nevertheless appear clearly distinct.
To understand the reason for this, it is necessary to know that, in the Sassone catalogue, the term magenta does not refer to a simple chromatic definition, but to a precise historical event: the Battle of Magenta, fought on 4 June 1859 between the Austrian Empire and the Franco-Piedmontese army, which claimed the lives of over 2,000 soldiers. It was the first of the two great battles that led to the Franco-Piedmontese victory and the liberation of Lombardy.
The second was the Battle of Solferino and San Martino, fought on 24 June 1859, one of the bloodiest battles in Italian history: more than 6,000 dead and approximately 40,000 wounded in just fifteen hours of fighting.
The denominations magenta and solferino therefore derive from these two decisive battles, which led, shortly thereafter, to the conclusion of the Second War of Independence with the Armistice of Villafranca, signed on 11 July 1859. In this sense, the two colours do not merely indicate a shade, but symbolically recall the blood shed on the battlefield.
Letter sent from Rome on 4 November 1870 to Florence, arriving the following day, franked with a single perforated 20 centesimi in solferino (Ferrario Auction, 26 July 2023)
Just as with magenta and solferino, all the other shades adopted by the Sassone catalogue possess their own history and a precise underlying rationale. At this point, the importance of understanding their meaning in order to achieve a truly in-depth knowledge of the stamps of the Italian States should be clear.
I may be mistaken and, if so, I would be more than happy to be proven wrong, but today I know of only one expert who possesses and consistently applies this level of awareness: my friend Paolo Cardillo.
I am, however, certain that from now on, when observing a perforated 20 centesimi of the Papal States, one will no longer see merely a colour, but will be reminded of the battles of Magenta and Solferino, and of the sacrifice of those who lost their lives there.
