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VASTOPHIL is a traditional appointment of the Italian philatelic calendar organised for forty years with the same enthusiasm and constancy by the Philatelic and Numismatic Society of Vasto in Abruzzo. The club was the first Italian society to receive the Certificate of Appreciation of FEPA, in 2008. VASTOPHIL includes a national exhibition devoted to Thematic philately, Aerophilately, Astrophilately, Maximaphily and Open philately in the framework of the annual calendar of FSFI events, which include other national exhibitions dedicated to groups of the remaining competition classes. The 2023 edition took place from 15 to 17 September with the formula “One Frame Plus” approach, a tested and effective way of presenting just the first frame of the exhibits when the physical availability of frames and/or space is an issue. The remaining pages are available to the jury and public on the exhibition’s dedicated website http://expo.fsfi.it/index.php?CodiceExpo=Vastophil2023&Ambito=USER&Lingua=IT

The jury included Paolo Guglielminetti (president), Claudio Magro, Annibale Rega, Flavio Riccitelli and Gian Carlo Torcelli (members), in addition to Giuseppe Galasso as commissioner of the Federation of Italian Philatelic Societies. The highest awards in the Champions section went in Thematic philately Giovanni Licata (“I maya”), who also obtained the Grand Prix of the section, and Paolo Morandotti (“Remember the radio knob?”), in Astrophilately to Umberto Cavallaro (“China – A long march to the Moon”), and in Open Philately to Pasquale Polo (“Cycling races and rainbow jersey”). As for the National section of the competition, Carlo Doria (“History of the ocean liner, from the advent of steam to 1939”) was awarded the Grand Prix of the competition. The other high awards went to Mario Capuano (“Swimming among the Five Circles”) and Paolo Bettarini (“The Great War – At the Front: Behind the Scenes of the Conflict”), the latter in Open Philately. Rosario D’Agata presented the best exhibit of Maximaphily.

Photo: One of the exhibition areas in the prestigious Palazzo d’Avalos, a 15th-century building.

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