Italian Social Republic, Wolf of Rome and Fasces

Italian Social Republic · 1944 · 25c & 30c

This pair of stamps features two powerful symbols of Italian history. The 25c stamp depicts the Capitoline Wolf, the mythological she-wolf who nursed the founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus. The 30c stamp shows the fasces, a bundle of rods with an axe, which was an ancient Roman symbol of magisterial power later adopted by the Italian Fascist party.

Issued by the Italian Social Republic, a German puppet state led by Mussolini after he was ousted from power in the Kingdom of Italy. These stamps were used in the German-occupied northern part of Italy during the final years of World War II.