In the Information Letter no. 16 of the Federation, of 18 August 2021, was highlighted the news of a meeting that should have been held on 14 September 2021 with the Deputy Minister of Economic Development Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, at the headquarters of the Ministry in Rome. The meeting was promoted by a letter from the Presidents of the three Italian philatelic “trade associations” – Bruno Crevato-Selvaggi (Federation of Italian Philatelic Societies – FSFI), Fabio Bonacina (Italian Philatelic Press Union – USFI) and Sebastiano Cilio (Associazione Philatelisti Italiani Professionisti – AFIP) – had sent on April 22, 2021 to the deputy minister, who had recently received the delegation to the postal sector and therefore also to philately, at the headquarters of the Ministry in Rome.
The letter concerned the problems related to the Italian policy on the issue of stamps (characterized by too many issues, quite “original” anniversaries, unattractive subjects, lack of prior dissemination of images, lack of consultation of Italian philatelists and poor distribution of commemoratives and therefore lack of use on the post), more generally, the Italian philatelic policy, with the request for a meeting to present the problems and requests of Italian philatelists.
Well, as highlighted in the Information Letter no. 17 of the Federation, this meeting took place and was attended by Bruno Crevato-Selvaggi, FSFI president, Fabio Bonacina, then USFI president, Sebastiano Cilio, AFIP president and the Hon. Carlo Giovanardi, who did his utmost to help him.
It was an event of great importance, as it had been a long time since the highest institutional representative of Italian philatelic politics had not met the exponents of the philatelic world.
A report was presented in which various points were addressed and the deputy minister proved to be attentive and informed on the issues dealt with. Among other things, he immediately expressed his intention to reform the Council, resuming the inclusion of representatives of trade associations, and asked to propose names. For the Federation, the president, Bruno Crevato-Selvaggi and the vice president Giulio Perricone were proposed.
Perhaps a beginning of the new course can already be seen with the three scheduled and then canceled emissions, dedicated to Kobe Bryant, the great basketball player who tragically died; Diego Armando Maradona, a great footballer we all know; and singer Fred Buscaglione. We will see if this new, more thoughtful course will continue for 2022. The signs and availability of the Deputy Minister bode well.