San Marino Honors Stonecutter Aldo Volpini with Embossed Stamp

Poste San Marino has issued a commemorative stamp honoring Aldo Volpini, considered the last great stonecutter of San Marino. The €2.55 stamp, sold in sheets of four, uses embossing to highlight details of a bas-relief depicting Saint Marino and a bear, originally carved by Volpini in 1961 for the Cassa di Risparmio della Repubblica. The stamp includes a biography, a photo of Volpini at work, and a QR code linking to a video about his life. Volpini, nicknamed Ciccio, lived in a house on Contrada delle Mura filled with his works, described by his nephew Walter Casali as more a museum than a home. During the 1940s and 1950s, San Marino's socialist-communist government led to economic hardship, forcing many stonecutters to emigrate or change trades. Volpini, however, pursued his craft with natural creativity, though his mentor Romeo Balsimelli criticized him as too presumptuous. He dreamed of carving a monumental history of San Marino on the wall of Cava degli Umbri, but the project never materialized. Distraught, he took his own life in 1976. The stamp was presented by Poste San Marino director Gian Luigi Amici to Captains Regent Alice Mina and Vladimiro Sella, who praised Volpini for expressing the authentic soul of the republic through his work.