How a 93-year-old Italian ship docked in Mumbai became a floating embassy across 30 ports
With a crew of 250, the ship, often considered the most beautiful in the world, set sail from its home in La Spezia on July 1, 2023
MUMBAI: The Amerigo Vespucci, a 93-year-old Italian ship, docked at the Mumbai Port Authority’s Indira Dock, on Friday. With a crew of 250, the ship, often considered the most beautiful in the world, set sail from its home in La Spezia on July 1, 2023. Mumbai is its 28th port of call; it set sail with a promise of 30 port calls, across 28 countries and five continents.
A mini expo, Villaggio Italia, has been presented on some ports. The Indira Dock, in Mumbai, will witness Italy’s showcase of design, photography and technology, along with live music by the Italian Air Force band, film screenings in collaboration with the Venice International Film Festival of La Biennale di Venezia, apart from talks and conferences. “This ship is an Italian floating embassy,” said Amerigo Vespucci’s deputy commanding officer Tomaso Ferrando. “Solidarity and socio-economic expansion with India is important for us.”
Display of designs
An immersive art room dedicated to the Italian artist Giotto di Bondone encourages visitors to question the intersection between art and human psychology; among other works of art on display are ‘Proust’ by Alessandro Mendini – a portrait of a chair through which the artist expresses the idea that a designer’s aim should be to think about an item and not just design objects.
The technology on display includes Moleskine’s Smart Writing Set, where one can write in a digital notebook and the handwriting gets converted into digital text, combining the pleasures of writing with the ease and convenience of technology. The Vespa Elettrica, designed by the Piaggio Group Design Centre, Marco Lambri and Marco Canepa is an electrical revamp of the scooter maintaining its traditional design.
Among the films being screened are ‘Felicità’ by Micaela Ramazzotti, ‘Commander’ by Edoardo de Angelis and ‘Bellissima’ by Luchino Visconti. In Mumbai, the Villaggio Italia will also host events like Exploring La Dolce Vita: Italy’s offer to India’s travel thrill and Crafting Elegance: the World of Luxury between Italy and India.
“Through the Villaggio Italia, we’re showing Italian excellence in food, culture, design and technology,” said Ferrando.
Sailing through rough waves
In the year-long voyage, bonds have been forged with citizens of Los Angeles, Tokyo, Abu Dhabi and Singapore, among others; but not without challenges. The biggest one for the crew thus far has been passing Cape Horn in South America, where the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans meet. “The waves were around seven metres high and there were 40 knots of wind. It was very challenging,” recalled Ferrando. But the crew persevered.
Perseverance has been inked in the ship’s motto -- ‘Non Chi Comincia Ma Quel Che Persevera,’ which translates to ‘Not who begins, but he who perseveres.’ The words are inspired by Leonardo da Vinci and are especially befitting to the Italian Navy’s oldest active military vessel – they act both as a motivational anthem and a reminder to keep carrying on with their journey.
The Amerigo Vespucci is a training ship, on which every Italian naval officer spends time before moving on. The motto of the ship where their journey starts is a reminder to keep carrying on with their personal journey as well.
The ship is a launchpad for cadets. “This is where we rely on the wind and the stars to guide us. It’s a tradition of the Italian navy to train cadets in traditional navigation. That’s why every naval officer has to spend time on this ship,” said Ferrando, adding that the navy has kept up the practice since the ship was created, in February, 1931, at the Royal Naval Shipyard of Castellammare di Stabia. In June the same year, it was recognised as a training ship.
Today, the training ship has over 100 cadets, supervised 24 hours a day by a crew that works in four-hour shifts. Three cadets are required to turn each of the four wheels of the ship. “It requires a lot of effort, like exercising, because the ship has no motors,” said the ship’s chief engineer Marco Terenzio.
The cadets sleep on hammocks, clean the ship each day by hand, learn how to manoeuvre the sails from the three masts and discover what life is like on board. “There is nothing automatic on this ship. It is still as it was built almost a 100 years ago. We have to do everything manually,” he added.
The ship is named after the Italian explorer who also lent his name to the Americas. In that spirit, this tour is Italy’s way of exploring the possibility of forging new bonds through celebrating Italian culture. “It’s an honour to stay in India. It’s a vibrant country and Mumbai is a beautiful city. The people have welcomed me and my crew very well,” said Ferrando. This unique collaboration and meeting of cultures will be on till December 2.