1. Organisation, date and venue
1.1. The International Philatelic Literature Exhibition Italia 2026 is a specialised world exhibition, organised by the Federazione fra le Società Filateliche Italiane (Fsfi) under the patronage of the Federation of the European Philatelic Associations (Fepa).
1.2. Italia 2026 has been granted the patronage of the Unione stampa filatelica italiana (Usfi), and the scientific advice of the Istituto di Studi Storici Postali “Aldo Cecchi” in Prato. Other international philatelic organisations might add their patronage in the near future.
1.3. Italia 2026 will take place from 15 to 18 October 2026 in Rome. Its venue is the Hotel Villa Eur Parco dei Pini, piazzale M. Champagnat 2, 00143 Rome.
1.4. The overall organisation is taken care of by an Organisation Committee (OC) appointed by the Fsfi.
2. Conditions for participation
2.1. Participation is open to printed and digital publications from all over the world related to investigative research in the field of philately or documentation, education and promotion of philately.
2.2. Entries may be exhibited by the author, compiler, editor, publisher, sponsoring organisation or society, or any other individual or entity holding proprietary rights. If multiple parties hold such rights, only one may apply.
2.3. Entries must satisfy the following date requirements:
| Type of publication | Condition |
| Monograph 1 & 2 | Published not earlier than 1 January 2021 |
| Periodical 1 & 2 | Published not earlier than 1 January 2021 |
| Digital media | Available on the net on the application date |
| Application, entertainment software, and other digital works | Running on a recent operating system |
• For multivolume works, the date of publication of the last volume shall govern.
• Revised editions will be considered as new publications.
• For periodicals, the most recent complete volume or the issues of the last year/two years shall be exhibited.
2.4. Entries in non-European languages must contain an exhaustive abstract in one of the main European languages.
3. Exhibition classes
3.1. Noncompetitive class. It includes publications invited by the OC to highlight the merits of philatelic literature and document its contribution to the progress of philately.
3.2. Competition classes.
They include:
1. Monograph 1 (investigative research in the field of philately)
2. Monograph 2 (documentation, education and promotion of philately)
3. Periodical 1 (investigative research in the field of philately)
4. Periodical 2 (documentation, education and promotion of philately)
5. Digital media 1 (investigative research in the field of philately)
6. Digital media 2 (documentation, education and promotion of philately)
For the definition of monographs, periodicals, and digital media, see SREV art. 3. The OC and the Jury may further classify the entries in subclasses for a more effective presentation and evaluation of the same.
4. Applications and submission of entries
4.1. Italia 2026 is a totally paperless exhibition; hence, applications shall be made only online, at the exhibition webpage italia2026.filatelia.info. Applicants shall complete the forms in the order provided and follow the step-by-step instructions.
4.2. All entries complying with the provisions in Art. 2 above will be accepted. No prior national-level award is required.
4.3. During the application process, the exhibitor will be asked to pay the participation fee (50 Euros) via PayPal or via Credit or Debit Card, following the instructions provided on the screen. This step is required to complete the application.
4.4. Applications can be submitted until 1 September at the latest.
4.5. Exhibitors shall submit one copy of the entry to the following address: Hotel Villa Eur, p. M. Champagnat 2, 00144 Roma, Italy.
at the latest by 15 September 2026. To support the jury’s prejudging activities, exhibitors are strongly encouraged to submit their entries as soon as possible, rather than waiting until the deadline.
4.6. After the exhibition, the exhibits shall be donated to the Italian National Philatelic Library at the Istituto di Studi Storici Postali “Aldo Cecchi”.
4.7. As entries will not be returned, those sent from outside the customs-free European area should be declared as “gift” at a nominal value (possibly: € or $ 29.99) to avoid excessive customs fees.
5. Judging Regulations, Judging and Awards
5.1. Entries will be judged by a Jury, chosen by the Fepa Consultant and the Board of the Fsfi, according to the new regulations proposed by Fepa to the Fip for further approval. They are available at italia2026.filatelia.info.
5.2. In consideration of the time needed for an appropriate evaluation, jury activities will be performed in two phases: a pre-evaluation phase, which shall start in June, and an on-site phase immediately before the exhibition, in which all prejudging results will be duly reviewed.
5.3. All judging activities will be managed with a specially designed and developed system for planning and coordinating the jury work and collecting evaluations from individual jurors. Whereas the evaluation of websites may start immediately, exhibitors presenting other types of entries are strongly invited to submit, along with the application form, the complete entry in PDF format (low resolution)[1]. The General Commissioner (GC) and the Jury assure that the file will be used solely for preliminary judging activities, will be made available only to the GC and the Jurors, and will be deleted at the end of the exhibition.
5.4. Any non-compliance detected during the receiving and evaluation operations shall result in the exclusion of the relevant entry from the competition. The participation fee shall not be refunded to the applicant.
5.5. Each exhibitor will receive a brief report with the jury’s remarks.
5.8. Awards will be presented in the form of digital diplomas.
5.7. The only awards delivered at the exhibition will be the Grand Prix Italia 2026 (best in show) and the Best in Class prizes.
6. General conditions
6.1. Whenever there are cases that cannot be decided upon with the aid of these regulations, the organisers of Italia 2026 will make a decision together with the Fepa Consultant.
6.2. The decisions of the OC, as well as the evaluation of the Jury, are final.
6.3. Communications with the exhibitors shall be only through the exhibition website or direct e-mail, depending on the matter treated.
6.4. By entering the application form, the exhibitor confirms the truthfulness of the data provided and declares to know and to accept the regulations above quoted under Art. 5.1, as well as these IREX.
6.5. Exhibitor’s personal data shall be treated according to the Italian law concerning the use of personal data. Responsible for treatment is the Fsfi president.
6.6. The court of jurisdiction is Prato, the location of the Fsfi headquarters.
7. Official website and contact address
7.1. The official website is italia2026.filatelia.info.
7.2. The email address is italia2026@filatelia.info.