Italian Minister of Communications Paolo Gentiloni has approved the release of a special stamp dedicated to Domenico Modugno's Nel blu dipinto di blu also known worldwide as Volare. The song was the Italian entry in the 1958 Eurovision Song Contest and one of the greatest hits ever to come out of the contest.

After winning the 1958 Sanremo festival in Italy, Nel blu di pinto di blu was chosen to represent Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest in the same year. Although it placed third, it still is one of the most popular songs of the contest having achieved 94 recorded versions in various languages, global chart success, a Grammy Award and immense popularity among people of all ages worldwide until today. In the 50th anniversary of the Eurovision Song Contest, held in 2005 in Copenhagen, it was voted the second favourite entry in the history of the contest after Abba's Waterloo.

The exact release date of the stamp will be announced in the first week of January and the face of the stamp will be known ten days prior to the release.

Ogae Italy will be very pleased to help everybody to purchase the stamp and other philatelic material regarding that release, e.g. FDC (First Day Cover), the Official Folder, post cards etc.

Fans and collectors stay tuned to esctoday.com for more information.

Notice: the stamp pictured in the article is not the actual one.