Hello beatriceh
Since Venice is a very touristic city, you may be able to buy stamps there at tobacconist’s and gift shops that sell postcards too
To send to the US you need a Bzona2 stamp (2,40 €) or 2x B stamps (1,20 €). The B ones are the national and most common ones, and using two of them together is the same as using a single Bzona2
The zone for the Netherlands (as well as any other country in Europe) is Bzona1 instead, and is is 1,25 €
If you don’t find the stamps at tobacconist’s / gift shops you may try going to the Spazio Filatelia of Venice. It is a special post office specialized in stamps and philatelic items, it has a large selection of stamps and usually fewer people waiting for their turn than normal post offices.
It is very near Piazza San Marco (you can see it on this map). It has “spazio filatelia” written on the door
and it is open from Monday to Friday since 8:20 in the morning to 3:30 in the afternoon, except the week with the last Saturday of the month. That week it is Mon-Fri 8:20 to 1:35 in the afternoon, plus Saturday since 8:20 to 12:35
You can send postcards from every post office, or also using any of the red postal boxes you will find around the city. One should be in Calle dei Fabbri, under the north portico of Piazza San Marco
Hey guys! I’m in Italy trying to send to the USA I just bought eight 50g zone 1 B stamps for 2.60 each (I think the lady at the tobacco place may have scammed me) Can I add two to each card to make it enough to get to the states or, because they’re 50g stamps I have enough value to make it to the states. What do I do??
hi and welcome to Italy!
the stamps you have are ok to send to USA! you need a 2.40 euro stamp per card, if you have stamps “B zona 1 50gr” their value is 3.05 euro, so it is ok!
if you payed 2.60 per each it’s a matter of “luck”
Hi everyone, I know that I can get my stamps hand canceled at Spazi Filatelia but do normal post offices also hand cancel stamps? I remember last year when I went to Capri, I really wanted them to postmark my mail and they got a bit upset about it, is there a polite way of asking for it?
I fear the answer is a mix of yes and no.
Normal post offices should have a rubber stamp to hand cancel mail too, and should do if asked.
But it happens thet would say they can’t, the rubber stamp is at the bottom of some drawer, they don’t have time and such.
My suggestion is : if you can, go to a philatelic counter. They are not as organized as spazi filatelia, but they sell stamps and should really be able to hand cancel them. And don’t be afraid to ask them to cancel your mail.
The worst that can happen is that they say no, but you can also find a very helpful employee
As for the other post offices without a philatelic counter (the majority), they have only one ordinary stamp called “guller”. In the past, when all mail was franked with stamps, these were also canceled with this stamp, however, over the years, since there have also been franking machines, there have been many internal disputes within Poste Italiane regarding the use of this stamp , including its use to cancel postage stamps. However, as has already been advised, asking costs nothing. I sometimes asked in some post offices and was told that they could no longer cancel stamps with this stamp, while in other post offices I have been canceled with this stamp.
Note: it is also possible to cancel several stamps together, the important thing is that the minimum postage is € 0,23 and that, in the case of special cancellations relating to temporary philatelic services, the stamp is issued on an earlier date than the date shown on the special postmark:
At the beginning of December, I will have days layover in Milan, it would be nice to get some special stamps from one of the philatelic counters in central Milan and send out postcards in travel mode.
Having looked at the list above for Milan and reading the Google Reviews of other who have attempted to purchase stamps, it doesn’t fill me with confidence.
Could someone advise me on which ones might be the best?
I will have a full day Saturday to explore.
I have tried looking, but will there be a post box / post office at Malpensa Airport?
The best place would be the Spazio Filatelia near Cordusio square, right in the center, but saturday is generally closed (except last week of the month, so not when you’ll be in Milano).
I’ve used sometimes (I’m not of Milano, so I’ve limited experience) the philatelic counters of:
Milano 49 (you can get there also by train at Milano Lancetti, getting onboard in Porta Garibaldi, Porta Venezia or Repubblica stations, all served also by the metro; fare is included in the urban ticket, then a little walk)
Milano Isola (get down at Gioia M2 metro station and then a little walk - see also Europe’s biggest covert square Piazza Città di Lombardia, next to the PO);
Milano 24 (near Palestro M1 metro station, quite in the center, near Natural History Museum and Planetarium).
There’s a Post Office in Malpensa airport, but it’s open only at morning on saturday (8:20 - 12:45), however I remeber that post boxes are available outside the office.
If you have an idea of which PO you’ll use, I can make a phone call to it to ask for stamps availability
For cheap postcards (30c instead of 50c-1€ of other places) I can recommend the kiosk where via Dante meets Cairoli square (watching the Castle, on your right), that is quite central, served also by metro M1 Cairoli.
Meaning that each cancellation sign must touch enough stamps (even of lesser value) to reach 0,23€.
One stamp can’t also be touched by more than one cancellation (a rule that I’ve seen doesn’t exist in some countries).
Dear Italian friends, I have just returned from Palermo and it was a fantastic visit except that I didn’t manage to find the mailbox to send my cards from. Seems, the old ones are in the process of removal and the new ones were not installed yet. I know in some countries it is possible to send an envelope with stamped postcards to the main postal office and they will mail them then. Is it possible in Sicily as well? If not, may anyone help me to mail my postcards from Italy, I’ll be happy to send you a thank you card from the Netherlands then
My postcards have “GPN Mail Box” stamps, not sure if it is something you can only mail from Sicily or not.
(As I’m explaining to her, please, if you are a tourist and you are in Italy, be sure they are selling you ONLY real stamps issued by Poste Italiane, other stickers are a waste of money as the postcards sent with them will probably never arrive!!)
@Jupie
Unluckily often souvenir shops, when you buy postcards, ask if you want to buy stamps too. And they don’t even explain they are not selling real stamps, but private mail stickers.
GPN “tickets” must be mailed only in GPN Mail boxes, which are not everywhere. I live in the region called Friuli Venezia Giulia and we have no GPN mail boxes.
Yes,tourists must pay attention and buy stamps only at a Post Office
Hello @davfv17 I want to thank you for your detailed response.
When I arrived at Malpensa at the weekend, I thought I would try my luck at the Airports Post Office in the arrivals of T1.
The postal clerk here where most helpful (despite the Google reviews) and they brought out a book full of postage stamps, they kindly sold me the B zone 1 (Europe) Christmas 2021 stamps and the B zone 2 (rest of the world) Arena di Verona Opera festival stamps I believe issued in June 2023.
They also had the EU Maastricht Treaty stamps, but they didn’t have any 5c make-up stamps, so they talked me out buying the domestic rate ones, I really should have pushed to purchase a few.
In a way it was good I checked the Airport Post Office, as by the time I got into Milan, the one a short walk from Centrale/Republica station was closed.
Postal rates changed on 24 July 2023. Up to 20g ordinary mail for abroad is:
€ 1,30 zone 1
€ 2,45 zone2
€ 3,20 zone3
If you already have Italian stamps with the zone indicated instead of the face value, you can still use them, as they automatically adjust to tariff changes.
Now I look forward to some fine days in Italy (around Pisa). I hope I also have enough time to buy postcards and stamps, because I booked a guided tour.
When you buy stamps, remember to read the letter which is on them:
B is for Italy
B1 is for Europe
B2 is for countries outside of Europe (USA, Japan, Argentina…)
B3 is for Oceania
Have a nice holiday in Tuscany!
nice for collection:
