Campione d’Italia

A small town on Lake Lugano in Switzerland is named Campione d'Italia. The town is Italian, but is entirely surrounded by Swiss territory: an exclave. The town belongs to the Italian province of Como.This unusual circumstance arose in 1798 when the Swiss canton of Ticino, to which the town belonged, joined Switzerland. However, the inhabitants of the town of Campione opposed this; they wanted to remain part of the former Lombardy. Since 1871, when Lombardy lost its independence and became part of Italy, Campione has remained Italian. During the Second World War, Switzerland was neutral. Campione, however, was Italian and formally fell under Mussolini's rule. Yet Campione elected King Victor Emmanuel, and in the final year of the war, no Italian stamps could reach the city anymore because the connections had been severed. Consequently, the municipal government of Campione had a series of five stamps printed in francs, ranging from 0.05 fr. to 1 fr. The stamps depicted the coat of arms of Campione and the text: Comune di Campione. Furthermore, the Cross of Savoy served as a sign that Campione belonged to the Kingdom of Italy. The series consisted of two editions, printed using letterpress by the Orell Füssli printing house. The first edition was issued on May 20, 1944, and is characterized by perforation 11½ with large holes. The stamps were printed in sheets of 25. A small portion of the series was overprinted with SAGGIO as a type of proof print. The print run was small: 0.05 fr. a total of 10.000 stamps, 0.10 fr. and 0.20 fr. a total of 40.000 stamps of each value, and 0.30 fr. and 1 fr. a total of 5.000 pieces of each value.Many stamps were used to be affixed as a series to envelopes on May 20, 1944, and to have a stamp impression from CAMPIONE D'ITALIA made. It was a simple stamp featuring only the date. This date was, however, adjustable. Stamps from the first printing can therefore be easily identified by the date in the stamp impression. The stamps were valid only in Campione itself, as well as in Switzerland. The stamps were not recognized by the Universal Postal Union, the UPU.However, the postal service of Campione operated in the same way as all other postal services in the world, and 'its own' registration slips were used. The second edition was released on June 28, 1944. This edition is characterized by perforation 11 with smaller perforation holes. The stamps were printed in sheets of 20. The postmark included an image of Campione as seen from Lake Lugano. On September 7, 1944, a new series was issued for the Comune di Campione. The series consisted of seven values, printed by the Courvoisier printing house, and featured images of landscapes and buildings, as well as a depiction of the tomb of General Scala in Verona.The regulations applicable to the first series applied to the use of the stamps.With the new series, mixed frankings occur with the first series.Furthermore, mixed frankings with Swiss stamps. However, used as postage stamps in Switzerland itself, the Campione stamps were NOT valid and were therefore not cancelled.The first and second series were valid for postage from Campione up to and including May 31, 1952. Mail sent from Campione after 1952 was processed by the Lugano 1 post office. Italian stamps had to be used for postage to Italy, and Swiss stamps for mail to Switzerland. Mail destined for other countries could be franked with either Italian or Swiss stamps. Mixed franking was not permitted, and all mail was stamped in Lugano.