THE TRANSATLANTIC - MISSING AN ERA

Under the pressure of the strong influx, in 900, the Italian shipyards are specialized in the production launching a series of transatlantic liners, which were soon appreciated in the international arena for the technique, the build quality and ride comfort. Reasons linked to factors of national image, enhanced by the regime of 'time, pushing a technology competition, then proved victorious, with British and German sites which until then had dominated the ocean navigation.
The liners were divided into "classes": the first was intended for tourists, travelers for pleasure, the second business travelers, while the third was intended for immigrants, sometimes forced to travel in severe discomfort, crammed below deck and allowed tooutdoor spaces narrow and strictly separated from the rest.
These ships were designed to face the sea and weather conditions typical of the ocean, had a high displacement (weight) and were equipped with a powerful engine apparatus in a short time to cover the crossing. Just to name a few old favorites: Big Earl, Duilio, Rome, Augustus Rex, Conte di Savoia, Saturnia, Vulcania, Oceania, Neptune ....
Apart from the miserable condition reserved for emigrants on board were offered conditions of extreme luxury for wealthy travelers: swimming pools, patios, tennis / volleyball, rifle shooting, dance halls, shops, full menu, a serviceunexceptionable, a long promenade deck teak.
After the war, the main Italian passenger shipping company, include:
- The Italy - Navigation Company, also known more simply as Italy Society, established in the world of international shipping as the Italian Line, was the national airline. He was born from Italy during the Fascist Fleet Gather founded in 1932, which brought together, under the same name owner, the three major shipping companies of the time: the Italian General Navigation of Genoa, Turin and Savoy Lloyd Cosulich of Trieste . The company's headquarters was located in the Piazza de Ferrari in Genoa, with branches also in the main destinations to 'abroad, was founded not only for political reasons, even for a matter of international prestige in order to have a single state company for transatlantic routes. The Company has been active, first person, until around 1980.
- Lloyd, who was born in 1836 in the Habsburg Empire and is one of the oldest shipping companies in the world. Its headquarters are located in Trieste. The Guglielmo Marconi and Galileo Galilei were the two beautiful units belonging to this Company. Since 1998, the company is part of the Evergreen Group.
- Coast Owners, founded in Genoa in 1854 by James Costa with the name Giacomo Costa fu Andrea snc, initially traded and transported olive oil and textiles. We recall some of its transatlantic Henry C. - Frederick C. - Anne C. - Franca C. - Eugene C. (This unit, established by an improved design of Marconi and Galileo, was the largest passenger built in Italy by a private owner). Today the company is active in the field with 15 cruise ships and is part of the Carnival brand.
- The Fleet Lauro, the then Senator Neapolitan Achille Lauro, which include The 'Angelina Lauro The Achille Lauro, the second passenger involved in an incident of terrorism in 1985.
- The MSC, which has picked up the baton, is currently the only major company, dedicated to the cruise market, Italian owned. It is based in Geneva and operates with 11 units.
- Home Line which was a company that has worked both in line and in the cruise industry. The company was founded in 1946, ceased in 1988 the group entered the Holland America Line.Although based in Genoa, was a company of international scope with ships registered under Panamanian flag. His best units were: - Oceanic - Doric - Atlantic - Homeric (which later became the Costa Europa).
The main national ports for transatlantic maritime stations with dedicated, were Genoa, Naples and Trieste.
The shipping lines, which is branched from 'Italy in relation to passenger traffic with the rest of the world were:
 The three lines with the Americas (North, Central and South - where the most prestigious was the Genoa-New York, an image of efficiency and speed, half an hour of undue delay in the crossing was a 'shame for a Commander);
 The routes to the West and East Africa;
 The line connecting the Far East, particularly India, China and Japan;
 The connection with Australia and New Zealand.
During the Second World War and many transatlantic requirements were designed to carry troops or transformed into hospital ships.
The activities of these large vessels, despite the incipient competition from the plane, taken after the war with fresh enthusiasm, reaching its apogee with the increasingly large ships, efficient and luxurious.
In fact, after the success of the REX, the national shipbuilding continued to school in the world, remember Julius Caesar, Augustus, Christopher Columbus, our hulls were considered the most elegant and fastest in the world, but some of these units were very unlucky: The 'Andrea Doria, in July 1956, collided and sank a few miles from New York, the Leonardo da Vinci, so appreciated by the Americans for cruises in the Caribbean, located in La Spezia in disarmament and then, in July 1980 dying before our eyes in a huge bonfire. On its way to extinction of the species with Michelangelo and Raphael, launched in the sixties and considered among the most elegant and luxurious ships on the seas of the world, both were placed in disarmament in La Spezia, Portovenere in the channel. The economic crisis, rising fuel costs, the lack of passengers, operating costs had led to unsustainable levels and were sold to foreign entities. They went to their ultimate destination sailing in a sea of ​​controversy and complaints.
In the scenario of the passenger plane had won, the flow of migrants had thinned, and the cruise market was not yet well established itself as a mass holiday like today.
The two ships were designed for military use in Persia. The Raphael was bombed and sunk during the Iran - Iraq, Michelangelo was dismantled in the early nineties in Pakistan.
The memory of our transatlantic pride in the quality production of the national shipbuilding, now far exceeded in size by modern cruise ships, but certainly not in elegance, luxury and speed, will always remain indelible in the memory of the navy in the world, a symbol of 'disappearance times, made up of technological progress, efficiency and primates, which has left a' footprint, also characterized by the screeching of want of steerage passengers in the face of the 'wealth of first class.
R. Adm. retired (CG) Franco Magazzu'

La Spezia, 18 October 2011

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