On 1 July 2023 the Amerigo Vespucci, the Italian Navy's training ship, will set sail from Genoa on a 19-month voyage around the world, covering 28 countries and 40,000 nautical miles!
For the first time in over 92 years of history, the world's most beautiful tall ship, a symbol of Italian heritage and a UNICEF ambassador, will cross the Atlantic and, after a roughly five-month stop for works in Buenos Aires, enter the Pacific Ocean via the Strait of Magellan or Cape Horn. After calls in the USA, Japan, the Philippines, Australia, India and the Arabian Peninsula, the Vespucci will return to the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal, before heading back to the Navy's base in La Spezia in February 2025.
The Amerigo Vespucci, the sailing ship launched on 22 February 1931 (the same date on which the Florentine navigator of the same name died in Seville in 1512) at the Castellammare di Stabia shipyards, will depart from Genoa on 1 July 2023 for the second round-the-world voyage of its history, following the one already completed between 2002 and 2003.
A total of 31 stops are planned in 28 different countries across 5 continents, 14 of which will have the officer cadets of the Livorno Naval Academy on board as part of their traditional training campaigns. In their absence, kept in Italy by academic year commitments, the tall ship will sail with its permanent crew, which will therefore range from a minimum of 250 up to a maximum of 400 service personnel on board.
The current commander of the Amerigo Vespucci – the 124th in the ship's history, appointed in September 2022 – is 47-year-old Captain Luigi Romagnoli, a Genoa native.
Numerous changes have been made to the 2023-2025 world tour compared with the one planned in 2020, which was then postponed due to the pandemic. First of all, the route: the Vespucci will exit through the Strait of Gibraltar and begin the adventure by crossing the Atlantic Ocean. Among the stops cancelled compared to the route planned in 2020 are Alexandria in Egypt, Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, Colombo in Sri Lanka, Nagasaki and Osaka, San Diego, Casablanca in Morocco, Tenerife in the Canary Islands and Valencia in Spain. For information: www.marina.difesa.it
