246 pp. - colour ill. - hardbound - 2nd ed. 2017
Italian text

THE 1/2 TORNESE POSTAGE STAMP OF 1860
"SAVOY CROSS"
Technical-descriptive study with the reconstruction of the table
Second Edition

Introduction by Raffaele Diena

Thanks to the process the authors have used for the plating of each of the one hundred "varieties", through computer comparisons and thousands of photographs available, the identification, with mathematical accuracy, of every position of the "cross" is now possible.

For the present second edition the whole volume has been revised, corrected and enriched in the light of new archive acquisitions and of photographic documentation. In most cases, pictures have been replaced with higher definition ones.
Compared to the first edition, photos are now more complete with all the hundred 'varieties' also of the Trinacria.
Three unreleased sections have been added: the chapter about forgeries, deepened and enriched with an extended treatment of the forgeries by De Sperati, in order to allow for sure their recognizing; an appendix about Trinacria (postal use, cancellations, forgeries); and, in the end, an appendix with the first attempt of reconstruction of the second plate of 1/2 grano of the Kingdom of Naples.

From the preface by Raffaele Diena.
"The present grand work about a sole postal value used only for some months in the period just before the unification of Italy represents, for sure, a display of courage and resolution by the authors. It is not so easy to obtain so many documents and information, even though they had an important reference point in the work by Emilio Diena about the postage stamps of the Kingdom of Naples. [...]besides the postal-historical research, with rates and use of the time, the different steps in the realization and technical characteristics in details, it is quite relevant the fact that the present volume has as its main aim the identification, with mathematical accuracy, of every position of the 'cross'. The authors have concentrated their efforts in this, thanks to the process they have used for the plating of each of the one hundred 'varieties', through computer comparisons and thousands of photographs available."