The Amerigo Vespucci is back at the Port of Civitavecchia: visiting days and hours

The prestigious training ship Amerigo Vespucci feels like home now in Civitavecchia. The ship is back visiting the port of the ancient Romans only 9 months after the last stop (READ HERE: SEPTEMBER 2017, SIGNORA DEI MARI). It will stop over from the 13th to the 16th of June 2018 at dock 8 of the Port of Civitavecchia. It will be allowed again to visit it and take pictures.

Known as “Signora dei Mari” (Mistress of the Seas) this is one of the “world's most beautiful ship”, true source of pride of the Italian Navy So, if you are in Civitavecchia between the 13th and the 15th of June and you have a couple of hours off, you have a plan.

TRAINING PRE-CAMPAIGN

The Vespucci is back at Civitavecchia on the occasion of the training pre-campaign 2018 for studentsVFP4 (militars of the Italian Armed Forces that serve the Italian Navy for 4 years) of the NCO School of La Maddalena.

The “world's most beautiful ship” resumes navigation to train military personnel under ship captain Roberto Recchia. It does so after the short winter work stop aimed to the maintenance and general improvement of the structures. The training ship also takes around the world the values and history of the Italian Navy and Italy. 

During the navigation 82 Navy trainees, including 25 steersmen and 57 engineers, will be involved on board in training activities regarding nautical disciplines and ethic-militar education, in order to embrace the values of loyalty, discipline and sense of duty and understand the importance of team work that characterizes every sailor in the performance of the tasks of the armed forces at the service of society.

After the first two stops in the ports of Palermo and Civitavecchia the Amerigo Vespucci will return to La Spezia, the city from which first sailed in June, 4, where it will attend from 19th to 23th June the 6th edition of Seafuture 2018, event dedicated to naval and maritimeinnovations and to strategic importance for the development of business opportunities for national and international companies in the defense sector.

Navigation will continue through the Thyrrenean Sea with stops at the cities of Genoa and Livorno. In Genoa, in July, the 1st Class students of the Naval Accademy will start the training campaign that this year will take place in the Atlantic Ocean and North Europe with the aim to take the excellence of Italy abroad.

A BIT OF HISTORY

The ship was designed, like the "twin" Cristoforo Colombo, by Francesco Rotundi, engineer and Lieutenant Colonel of naval engineering, as well as director of the shipyards of Castellammare di Stabia.

On the 22th of February 1931 the ship Amerigo Vespucci was launched in Castellammare di Stabia. The ship is still in service for the training of the cadet officers of the Academy in Livorno. The Vespucci has carried out from 2014 to 2016 the modernization of the operational capacity on board and especially the adaptation of logistic accommodation to modern standards. The propulsive engines and the generation of electricity have been completely replaced with technologically advanced products; the unit has been equipped with a new propeller and new systems of platform, more efficient and more strictly oriented to the protection of the environment.

The important task of "rejuvenation" and "re-styling" of the Vespucci was coordinated by the Direction of Works and Services, particularly by the section of Studies of the Arsenal M.M. of La Spezia, with an important contribution from "in-house" manpower, including workers of the Arsenal and the crew.

From its entry into service, the ship has carried out every year training activities (with the exception of 1940, due to the events of the war and the years 1964, 1973 and 1997, for extraordinary maintainance works), mainly to the pupils of the Naval Academy, but also to VFP4 pupils and the students of the Naval College, now "Francesco Morosini" Naval Military School .

From a technical-constructive point of view the Amerigo Vespucci is a sailing ship with engine; from the rig point of view it is an "armed ship", that is, it has three vertical shafts, foresail, mainsail and mizzen mast, equipped with flagpoles and square sails, plus the Bowsprit at the bow, to all effects a fourth shaft. The unit is also provided of cut sails: flakes, at the bow, between the bowsprit and the foresail, the stays, between foresail and mainsail and between mainsail and mizzen mast, and the mainsail, equipped with boom and peak, on the mizzen mast.

The crew is composed by about 270 military between men and women. In the summer period, the ship welcomes volunteer students, and subsequently, the cadets of the Naval Academy for the usual Training Campaign, increasing the crew in 100 people thus arriving at full speed to more than 400 people on board. The school ship Amerigo Vespucci is UNICEF ambassador from September 2007.

VISITING DAYS AND HOURS

The Training Ship Amerigo Vespucci will be moored at dock 8 of the Port of Civitavecchia. Visiting days and hours:
– Wednesday 13th June from 3pm to 8pm
– Thursday 14th June from 5pm to 8pm
– Firday 15th June from 10am to 12.30pm and 3pm to 8pm

After the success last year, we relaunch the hashtag #UnaFotoPerLaVespucci! Send us via mail (redazioneweb@portmobility.it) or via messenger (facebook.com/PortMobility) the best pictures you take these days. Or just post them with the hashtag #UnaFotoPerLaVespucci. This year, again, once the Signora dei Mari has sailed, we will publish your best pictures in our sites and social  pages: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. How? Here are the most amazing pictures that we received last year:

READ ALSO:
AMERIGO VESPUCCI AT CIVITAVECCHIA, SEPTEMBER 2017
#UNAFOTOPERLAVESPUCCI, MOST BEAUTIFUL PICTURES