The volume Simon Taxis and the Posts of the State of Milan During the Renaissance by Giorgio Migliavacca and Tarcisio Bottani has won the prestigious "Fulvio Apollonio Prize" for the best postal history book published in 2008. The top honor is bestowed annually by the USFI (Italy's Philatelic Journalists Guild).
The prize was presented on 23 October at the opening of the annual general meeting of the Philatelic Journalists Guild held in Rome at the magnificent Palazzo dei Congressi in conjunction with the International Stamp Festival "Italia 2009". In attendance were about 100 journalists, television networks and the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications, as well as the Curator of the Vatican Museums.
"With this prize the Journalists Guild is paying tribute to the scholarly research carried out over a span of several decades by Dr. Migliavacca and Professor Bottani," said Mr. Danilo Bogoni, president of the Philatelic Journalists Guild. In presenting the award to Dr. Migliavacca; he further credited Dr. Migliavacca for valuable assistance to the world stamp shows held in Genoa in 1992 and in Milan in 1998. Attending the well-coordinated ceremony was also Mr. Gianfranco Lazzarini, Mayor of Camerata Cornello and Chairman of the Taxis Museum.
Last August the book won a gold medal in Pittsburgh at the APS Stampshow - the largest 2009 philatelic event in USA.
In brief remarks Dr. Migliavacca told journalists that "Italy has her own Rowland Hill: he is Simon Taxis the creator of an unprecedented postal speed that remained unchallenged until the advent of the train over 300 hundred years later. Simon Taxis was instrumental in modernizing the European posts in the 1500s and making them accessible for the first time to the general public. In turn this led to the creation of a state monopoly of the postal service. "
"Italia 2009" received the high patronage of Italy's President Giorgio Napolitano. The Trade Fair had 150 booths of dealers and postal administrations and an estimated 50,000 people visited the event. 503 collectors exhibited their collections in over 2,300 exhibition frames.
Dr. Migliavacca is the president of the British Virgin Islands Philatelic Society. His book was published last year by the by the Taxis Museum at Cornello, Bergamo, Italy.
The late Fulvio Apollonio was the president of the Philatelic Journalists Guild for 30 years as well as a major journalist at Florence's La Nazione, and editor of the Stamp Encyclopedia.
Photo caption: Professor Tarcisio Bottani (left) and Dr. Giorgio Migliavacca receiving the Apollonio Prize from the President of the Philatelic Journalists Guild, Mr. Danilo Bogoni (far right)
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