Aims

The Italy and Colonies Study Circle was founded in 1974 to promote and encourage the study of all aspects of the philately and postal history of the Italian area.

Meetings

The quarterly meetings held in London are deliberately kept informal with members exchanging chat and information in a social setting, as well as occasionally showing short displays from their collections. The September/October meeting also includes the AGM. All meetings end with an auction of about 900 lots comprised of stamps, covers, postal history and other related philatelic material. Members who cannot attend the meetings can participate in the auction with postal bids.

Publications

The journal Fil-Italia is the voice of the Society and is the most important service provided by the Society for those members who cannot attend the meetings. Over the years it has built into the most comprehensive account of Italian area philately in the English  language. The Society also publishes the occasional handbook. Volume 1 is on the Postal Tariffs of the Italian Area 1850-1985,  Volume 2 on the Italian Post Offices in Constantinople 1908-23, Volume 3 is the award winning book on the postal marking of  Italian Lake Mail and Volume 4 is entitled The Postmarks of Fiume 1809 - 1945.

Other Facilities

The Society operates an extensive library and an exchange packet system. (Unfortunately circulation of the packet is limited to the EU countries for taxation reasons, but a separate packet circulates in the US and Canada.)