with their coloured frames, the stamps depict four Casa Litta rooms in Palazzo Orsini, seat of the Order’s Embassy to the Holy See. In particular:

the € 1.20 stamp depicts the Salone Verde with the upper part of the Borghese Table in the foreground, made by Alessandro Algardi in 1634-1635 for Prince Marcantonio Borghese using a rare plate of jasper inherited from Cardinal Scipione Borghese and completed in 1773 by Luigi Valadier. The stamp is completed by the legend “CASA LITTA – PALAZZO ORSINI”, the inscriptions “SOVRANO MILITARE ORDINE DI MALTA” and “POSTE MAGISTRALI”, the coat of arms of the Order’s activities and the face value € 1.20;

the € 1.25 stamp depicts the Salone Giallo; in the foreground the 17^th-century table with pietra dura and inlaid marble top, produced at the end of the 16th century by the Medici Grand Ducal Workshops. On the walls, two Landscape with Ostriches and Leopard on a Pond tapestries made in Brussels by Jan Raes II, early 17th century. In the corner, a 17^th-century white marble bust of Francesco I d’Este, Duke of Modena, from Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s workshop. The stamp is completed by the legend “CASA LITTA – PALAZZO ORSINI”, the inscriptions ” SOVRANO MILITARE ORDINE DI MALTA” and “POSTE MAGISTRALI”, the coat of arms of the Order’s activities and the face value € 1.25;

the € 2.40 stamp depicts the Sala da Pranzo; in the background one of the six Grotesque tapestries, designed by Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer in the style of Jean Berain I, made in the Beauvais Manufactory in France between 1690 and 1711. The stamp is completed by the legend “CASA LITTA – PALAZZO ORSINI”, the inscriptions ” SOVRANO MILITARE ORDINE DI MALTA” and “POSTE MAGISTRALI”, the coat of arms of the Order’s activities and the face value € 2.40;

the € 3.10 stamp depicts two frescoes of the Venetian school in the terrace floor of the gallery. The stamp is completed by the legend “CASA LITTA – PALAZZO ORSINI”, the inscriptions ” SOVRANO MILITARE ORDINE DI MALTA” and “POSTE MAGISTRALI”, the coat of arms of the Order’s activities and the face value € 3.10.

The photographs used for the stamps are by Massimo Listri.

The entire sheet bears the Teatro di Marcello chalcographic print by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, part of the Vedute di Roma series, depicting the Orsini palace in the 18th century. On the top right is the two-line inscription ” SOVRANO MILITARE ORDINE DI MALTA” and “POSTE MAGISTRALI”, surmounted by the Order’s coat of arms. immediately below, on the right and always on two lines, is the legend “Ambasciata presso la Santa Sede – Casa Litta – Palazzo Orsini”. The stamp has the inscriptions “SOVRANO MILITARE ORDINE DI MALTA” and “POSTE MAGISTRALI”, the coat of arms of the Order’s activities and the face value € 5.00.