10th Anniversary of Fascist March on Rome — Italian Youth (Balilla)

On 27 October 1932 the Italian post issued a commemorative set for the tenth anniversary of the Fascist March on Rome (X Annale). One value of that issue — the 20 centesimi carmine — shows a young figure in the Opera Nazionale Balilla uniform, rifle at the shoulder, under the motto «I bimbi d’Italia si chiaman Balilla» (“The children of Italy are called Balilla”). Colnect catalogues the stamp as «Italian Youth»; Domfil lists the design as Scout / Explorador under number 932.43 (Scott 293 / Michel 418 / Yvert 308).

The Balilla organisation was the Fascist regime’s state youth corps. From the late 1920s it absorbed and replaced independent Italian Scout associations (CNGEI, ASCI and others), so this postal design sits at the hinge between pre-Fascist Scouting and the uniformed youth movement that succeeded it on Italian streets and camps. Philatelic Scout catalogues (Domfil, Scouts-on-Stamps) retain the 20 c as a thematic piece for that historical link: youth, uniform, and the paramilitary posture that Domfil indexes under the Scout motif.

The stamp was designed by Corrado Mezzana, printed by photogravure at the state security-printing works (IPS / Officina Governativa Carte Valori), comb perforation 14, size about 40 × 24 mm, watermark crown type 11 (upright). Face value 20 centesimi; colour carmine. Colnect records validity for postage until 31 August 1934. Only this single Domfil Scout design is catalogued here from the wider March-on-Rome anniversary set.