Italy: Sancarlone in Arona

On Wednesday I got two postcards: one from Italy and one from France.

The card from Italy shows Sancarlone in Arona. Arona is a town on Lago Maggiore and a popular tourist destination. Sancarlone is a massive copper statue erected between 1614 and 1698. With 23,5m, 35m with pedestral, it was once the tallest statue in the Western World. It represents Charles Borromeo, a Catholic saint and former archbishop of Milan. The interior can be accessed by narrow stairs and ladders allowing visitors to peer through the eyes and ears. Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, the designer of the Statue of Liberty, visited Arona in 1869 to study the statue's structure.

Due to Covid-19 Italy, like some other European countries, stopped to issue stamps at the end of February and just resumed the issuing in early May. Since then stamps are issued nearly weekly. The delicious stamp on the right was issued on 19th June and celebrates the 130th anniversary of Pasta Divella. The stamp on the left is one of the common Italian Mail stamps (from set of three) (issued 01-07-2010). Interestingly this card seems to have travelled faster than usual. It reached me after just two days.

Thank You very much Davide!