Italy Land of Saints and Sanctuaries

Preparing for the 1950 Jubilee while trying to erase the horrors of WWII.

This marvelous pictorial map of Italy was illustrated by the talented Russian artist Vsevolod Nicoline and published in 1949 by Italgeo – the legacy firm of Giovanni de Agostini (1863-1941). The piece was issued with the full support of the Catholic Church (approvals in the lower right) to celebrate the forthcoming Holy Year of 1950, declared by a papal bull of Pope Pius XII.

Dozens of holy sites throughout the deeply religious country are faithfully recreated with frontal profiles, though none match the size and grandeur of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Numerous saints are also named and dated, with halos highlighted in gilt ink. Saints Catherine and Francis adorn the highly decorative cartouche, flanked with olive branches and topped with the Latin phrase Pax et Bonum (Peace and Goodness).

In addition to observing the Jubilee of 1950, the map was likely also issued to help obfuscate the Fascist identity and Axis support provided by Italy during World War II. While the nation officially switched sides to the Allies after Mussolini’s downfall in 1944, significant tensions remained within the newly created democratic system. Printed in Milan, the piece was distributed in the United States by the Catholic War Veterans, a service organization established in 1935 to support baptized Catholics in the U.S. Armed Forces.