Italy: Colosseum

On 10th March I got three postcards: one from Italy, one from Australia and one from Austria.

The card from Italy shows different views of the Colosseum. The construction of the Colosseum started in 72 at the behest of Roman Emperor Vespasian, the follower of Nero, but it was just completed under his son Titus. Vespasian wanted to ingratiate himself with the people of Rome by staging panem et circenses (Bread and Games) and thus the new amphitheatre was planned for 50000 viewers. It is nowadays one of the most famous buildings in the World, since 1980 as part of the Historic Centre of Rome on the UNESCO World Heritage List and was voted one of the 7 New Wonders of the World in 2007.

In the 19th century Italy was divided into many small states, of which most were unitied by 1861 to form the Kingdom of Italy. Although the Papal States lost big parts of its territory, it was able to remain independent due to French protection. In 1870 however France was on war with the German States, at which end the German Empire was founded, and had to recall its garrison from Rome. Without its French protector the Italian troops were soon able to conquer Rome. In early 1871 the capital of Italy was also moved from Florence to Rome and that is what is celebrated with this nice stamp (issued 03-02-2021). The stamp got cancelled in the philatelic shop in Novara. 

Thank You very much Davide!