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U.N. Issues Honor Italy

On Aug. 30, the United Nations Postal Administration issued a set of six commemoratives and three Prestige booklets illustrating World Heritage sites in Italy.

The stamps were issued in denominations of 37¢ and 70¢ (for use at U.N. offices in New York), 0.90 Swiss francs and 1.30 S.fr. (for use at U.N. offices in Geneva, Switzerland) and e0.51 and e0.58 (for U.N. offices in Vienna).

Florence (37¢ stamp): This symbol of the Renaissance assumed its economic and cultural predominance under the Medici in the 15th and 16th centuries. Its 600 years of extraordinary artistic creativity can be seen above all in its 13th-century cathedral, Santa Maria del Fiore, the dome of which appears on the stamp. This massive octagonal cupola was the achievement of Filippo Brunelleschi, master architect.

Amalfi Coast (70¢ stamp): The Amalfi Coast has great physical beauty and natural diversity. It has been intensively settled by human communities since the early Middle Ages. A number of its towns, such as Amalfi and Ravello, contain architectural and artistic works of great significance. The Duomo di Sant'Andrea (Amalfi Cathedral), featured on the stamp, was founded in the ninth century and contains Romanesque, Byzantine, Gothic and Baroque elements. The church boasts a mosaic facade adorned with bands, arches and patterned squares.

Pisa (0.90 Swiss franc stamp): Pisa's Piazza del Duomo features medieval monuments known around the world, including the campanile (Leaning Tower) - the bell tower of the cathedral.

Aeolian Islands (1.30 Swiss franc stamp): The Aeolian Islands are located in the Tyrrrhenian Sea off the northern coast of Sicily. Formed by volcanoes 1 million years ago, they provide an outstanding record of island-building and destruction and ongoing volcanic phenomena.

Pompeii (e0.51 stamp): When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D., it engulfed the flourishing Roman town of Pompeii, the Forum of which is pictured on the stamp. It is a large rectangular area with a colonnade surmounted by a loggia running along three sides.

Rome (e0.58 stamp): Founded, according to legend, in 753 B.C., Rome was the center of the Roman Republic and Empire, and later capital of the Christian world. The Fontana del Moro in the Piazza Navona, erected in 1574, has a central sculpture later designed by Bernini and carved by Giannantonio Mari in 1655.