Societa di Navigazione Italia

The Italian Line was formed in 1932 by Benito Mussolini, by merging the Navigazione Generale Italiana, the Cusulich Line, and Lloyd Sabaudo.

Conte Biancamano (1925) / Conte Grande (1928)

Lloyd Sabaudo contributed these twin-stackers.  The Conte Grande was 25,661 GRT, 665 feet long, 78 feet wide.  When constructed, she carried 578 first, 256 second, 164 interchangeable, 720 third. 

The Conte Grande's first class public spaces, designed by the Coppedes family, were an exercise in glitz.  Her Salone delle Feste was a three-storey mish-mosh of Spanish, Oriental and English styles.

Post-war, her accommodation was 261 first, 338 cabin and 780 in third.   The Conte Grande was withdrawn in 1960.

Conte Biancamano.  
This and hundreds of other high-quality prints are available at www.kinshipsprints.com.  ©kinshipsprints.com - used with permission.

Conte Grande.  
This and hundreds of other high-quality prints are available at www.kinshipsprints.com.  ©kinshipsprints.com.  Used with permission.

Roma (1926) / Augustus (1927)

These two, along with the Duilio and Giulio Cesare   were NGI's contribution to the new line.  Also twin-stackers, these were 32,652 GRT, 711 feet long, 82 feet wide.  Their service speed was 19 knots.   Accommodation was for 302 first, 504 second, 1,404 third.  They were altered in 1934 to carry 210 first, 604 second, 454 tourist, and 776 third.  They were laid up in 1939, but when the war started, the Roma was given new engines which brought her speed to 30 knots!  Both were earmarked for conversion to aircraft carriers, but were seized by the Germans before this work was completed.  The Augustus was scuttled by the Germans in the entrance to Genoa Harbour on 25th September 1944; her sister met a similar fate the following year.  Both were later raised and scrapped.

Roma. 
 This and hundreds of other high-quality prints are available at www.kinshipsprints.com.  ©kinshipsprints.com - used with permission.

Augustus.  
This and hundreds of other high-quality prints are available at www.kinshipsprints.com.  ©kinshipsprints.com - used with permission.

Saturnia/Vulcania (1928)

Built for Cosulich, the Saturnia and Vulcania were both 24,000 GRT and of a similar, but not identical design.  The Vulcania enjoyed the longest career of any Italian liner, nearly 40 years!  She survived the war in American hands, and even sailed for United States Lines for some time thereafter, returning to Italia service in 1946/7.  Made redundant in 1965 by the arrival of the Michelangelo and Raffaelo, the Saturnia was scrapped shortly thereafter, but the Vulcania, renamed Caribia sailed for several more years with Grimaldi Siosa before an accident flooded her engine room.  It was determined that she was too old to be worth fixing. She was sold for scrap in 1974 to Taiwanese interests, but sank before she reached Kaohsiung.

Brian Guinn's Saturnia page

 Saturnia.
This and hundreds of other high-quality prints are available at www.kinshipsprints.com.  ©kinshipsprints.com - used with permission.

 Vulcania.
This and hundreds of other high-quality prints are available at www.kinshipsprints.com.  ©kinshipsprints.com - used with permission.

Conte di Savoia (1932)

Commissioned for Lloyd Sabaudo, this 48,502 GRT ship nearly met with disaster on her maiden voyage!  An outlet valve blew a hole in the ship's hull below the waterline in the Atlantic, which was filled with cement by a daring crew member.   814 feet long and 96 feet wide, she carried 500 first, 366 second, 412 tourist and 922 third class passengers.  After this rather ominous beginning, she led a rather un-dramatic life until 1940 when she was withdrawn and laid up at Malamocco, outside Venice.  She was sunk there by an Allied air attack on 11th September, 1943.

 Conte di Savoia.
This and hundreds of other high-quality prints are available at www.kinshipsprints.com. ©kinshipsprints.com - used with permission.

Rex.
This and hundreds of other high-quality prints are available at www.kinshipsprints.com.  ©kinshipsprints.com - used with permission.

Rex (1932)

Commissioned for NGI following the success of the Roma and Augustus, and built by the Ansaldo yard in Genoa, the Rex was 51,062 GRT and 879 feet long, and joined her intended competitor the Conte di Savoia on the Transatlantic run.  The Rex was the speed machine, while the Conte was better known for her sumptuous interiors.

She was destroyed at Capodistria on 8th September, 1944 by British warplanes.

Brian Guinn's Rex and Conte di Savoia page depicts life on these two ships.  Interestingly, although they were built for separate lines by separate yards, they look quite similar.

Andrea Doria/Cristoforo Columbo (1953/4)

The Andrea Doria is second only to the Titanic in its notoriety, due naturally to the fact that she, too, sank.  However, unlike the Titanic, whose sinking caused great loss of life, the Doria was the arena for the greatest peacetime rescue at sea of all time.

Built by Ansaldo in 1952, she and her sister the Cristoforo Columbo were 29,100 GRT, 700 feet long and carried 1,250 passengers in three classes.  She was noteworthy in that she provided a swimming pool for each class of service.  After just three years of service, on 25th July 1956, she was struck by the Swedish-American Line's Stockholm on a foggy night off Nantucket.  Immediately heeling over on her starboard side to list of 20 degrees, the Doria was doomed.  Due to the list, it was impossible to lower the lifeboats on the high port side.  Without them, there was not enough space in the boats for everyone on board.

Fortunately, the Stockholm was not mortally damaged, and she and several other ships, most notably the CGT liner Ile de France rescued everyone who survived the collision (51 people were killed in the impact).

	This site, currently under construction, will have a complete account of the disaster.  It is already quite interesting, with a number of interior and exterior views of the ship, diagrams of the accident, etc.
	Bryan Guinn's site has some pictures of the Doria's interiors

Here are some artifacts recovered from the wreck.

Leonardo DaVinci (1960)

Built to replace the Andrea Doria, this 33,340 GRT beauty was 761 feet long and 92 feet wide.  She carried 413 first class, 340 cabin class, and 571 tourist class passengers, and had five pools, a record in those days.  Her engine spaces were designed to be converted to nuclear power, but the commercial failure of the Savannah doomed the future of nuclear merchant ships.

As these pictures, from a 1970 brochure, reflect, the DaVinci's furnishings were casual, almost Spartan compared to the rococo largesse of her predecessors.

With the introduction of the Raffaello and Michelangelo, the DaVinci and Cristoforo Columbo turned primarily to cruising.  The Leonardo closed the Italian Line's transat service in June of 1976.  She lay idle for a year and then, under union pressure, went into the service, accompanied by Lloyd Triestino's Guglielmo Marconi and Galileo Galilei of a new Italian cruise line formed by the government and managed by Costa Crociere called Italian Cruises International.  This was a financial disaster, due in part to her enormous fuel consumption (she burned more fuel when idle than most ships did while underway!).   She was withdrawn from service in 1978 and on 4th July, 1980 she burned at La Spezia and was scrapped.

Leonardo DaVinci Interiors

Michelangelo / Raffaello (1965)

Commissioned in 1962, the Michelangelo and her sister the Raffaello were the first twin ships to be built since the Bremen and Europa, but came from separate yards; the Raffaello was built by Cantieri Riuniti in Monfalcone and the Michelangelo at Ansaldo. 

Placed in transatlantic service in 1965, these 45,000-tonners were the first Italian ships to wear white from the onset, as they were intended to play a role in the lucrative cruise market.  Their twin funnels were covered in a caged lattice, rather than solid steel, and had large deflectors for soot.  They were designed to carry 1,775 passengers, or 1,200 in cruise mode.

Within five years, the twin ships were losing money.  While the government (who subsidized them) and the seaman's unions squabbled, they continued to operate, sometimes with fewer passengers than the 775 crew.  Finally the government withdrew its subsidy, and the ships were laid up in 1975.  After numerous enquiries the ships were sold to the Iranian government for use as moored troop barracks.  

The Raffaello was bombed and sank by an Iraqi air attack on Bushire in February, of 1983. Her submerged remains were struck by a freighter some time after that, nearly sinking it.

The Michelangelo was sold to Pakistani scrappers in 1991 and she was gone by 1992. Terribly tragic endings for two great ships that had such short lives.

First Class

Cabin Class

Tourist Class
 

Lloyd Triestino

Formed in 1837, Lloyd Triestino's main routes were to Africa and Asia, including Hong Kong and - later - Australia.  

The company still exists as a freight carrier, part of Taiwan's Evergreen group.  Click the picture at left to visit the history page on the company's web site.

Guglielmo Marconi/Galileo Galilei

The Guglielmo Marconi and Galileo Galilei were built in 1963 at Cantieri Reuniti dell'Adriatico in Monfalcone.  They were 27,907 GRT, 702 feet long and carried 100 first, 200 interchangeable, and 1,400 in tourist (1,700 total) at a top speed of 27½ knots.  They were the largest and fastest Italian ships built for the Australian trade.

In the late 'seventies, the ships were chartered to Italian Cruises International, a failed experiment by the government to appease the seamen's unions. 

In 1981, ICI was disbanded and management of both ships was handed to Greece's Chandris group.  In 1983, Chandris had the option to purchase both vessels, but chose only to purchase the Galileo.  The Marconi became the Costa Riviera for Costa Crociere after a thorough rebuilding at T. Mariotti (formerly Ansaldo) yard in Genoa.  She remains with Costa today.

The Galileo as she was now known, was also refurbished in 1984, with two decks of additional cabins added to her forward superstructure.  From October 1989 to March, 1990 she was completely rebuilt by Lloyd Werft in Bremerhaven, at a cost of over $55 million.  She then became the Meridian of Chandris's new brand, Celebrity Cruises. 

She sailed with Celebrity until September of 1997, when she was delivered to Metro Holdings of Singapore, who had purchased her in March of that year for $62½ million.  Renamed the Sun Vista, she underwent refurbishment at Newport News, VA, and Piraeus, Greece.  She sailed under the banner of  Sun Cruises of Singapore from 1998 until May 20th, 1999, when she caught fire and sank off the Malaysian coast, under suspicious circumstances!

Since then, we have learned that Premier Cruises was only days away from purchasing the Sun Vista at the time of her sinking, for placement into cruise service from Houston to the western Caribbean.  We have heard that the purchase price was about $55 million, far less than the $80 million for which the Sun Vista was insured!

The Malaysian government is still investigating the sinking, especially since it seems odd that such a stoutly-built ship, equipped with safety equipment beyond what was required, would burn and sink so easily.  The possibility remains that she will be brought to the surface, as she is submerged only 200 feet and is in a shipping lane.

The Guglielmo Marconi departing New York in the colours of Italian Cruises International.  Photo Credit:  Howard Paulman