Italian Line 1939

Capa da revista norte americana MADEMOISELLE na sua edição de Janeiro de 1939 dedicada a viagens com um modelo sugestivo a bordo de um dos navios transatlânticos da companhia estatal italiana ITALIA - Societa di Navigazione, a Italian Line, que então dispunha de uma frota magnífica, na qual se incluiam os gémeos SATURNIA e VULCANIA, que ligavam regularmente Lisboa a Nova Iorque, com escalas nos Açores, e foram dos poucos sobreviventes à guerra que destruiu a maior parte da marinha mercante italiana de 1940 a 1945.

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Paquetes em Lisboa

O dia 28 de Setembro de 1951 foi movimentado no que tocou a escalas e navios de passageiros em Lisboa, com quatro paquetes em escala, um dos quais o famoso navio SERPA PINTO, da Companhia Colonial, que então fazia a linha do Brasil. Notícia publicada nas páginas do Diário de Lisboa, na sua edição do próprio dia 28 de Setembro de 1951.

Texto e imagens /Text and images copyright L.M.Correia. Favor não piratear. Respeite o meu trabalho / No piracy, please. For other posts and images, check our archive at the right column of the main page. Click on the photos to see them enlarged. Thanks for your visit and comments. Luís Miguel Correia

SATURNIA and VULCANIA in post cards

Of all the magnificent Italian transatlantic passenger liners of the twentieth century, I would say the motor sisterships SATURNIA and VULCANIA were by far the more sucessful.

When built in the late 1920s they were the largest and fastest passenger motorships in the world. 

Both were constructed in the Adriatic for the famous Triestre based Cosulich Line, and they were followed by two smaller sisters with similar magical names, the NEPTUNIA and OCEANIA, but this later more modern pair did not get the same luck as the previous pair, and both were torpedoed on the same day (18 September 1941) in the Mediterranean by a British submarine (HMS UPHOLDER) during World War Two.

SATURNIA and VULCANIA joinned the Italian Line fleet in 1937 but remained based in Trieste until the end of their Italian days in 1965 when both were replaced by the famous sisters MICHELANGELO and RAFFAELLO, the final North Atlantic twins to enter service, in 1965, and too late actually as they only lasted for 10 years in active service.

Of the North American service, SATURNIA and VULCANIA were also the Italian Line ships more frequently seen in the Portuguese ports, mainly Lisbon and Ponta Delgada.

They survived the WW2 that proved fatal to most other great Italian Line passenger ships and had another two decades of regular service becoming the late grand old ladies of the Mediterranean -New York service. 

SATURNIA was scrapped in Italy in 1965 but sister VULCANIA had a reprieve and was sold by Italia to Siosa Line and sailed as CARIBIA until September 1972 and was broken up in Taiwan in 1974. I remember very well both ships in Lisbon, they were quite a sight.

Texto e imagens /Text and images copyright L.M.Correia. Favor não piratear. Respeite o meu trabalho / No piracy, please. For other posts and images, check our archive at the right column of the main page. Click on the photos to see them enlarged. Thanks for your visit and comments. Luís Miguel Correia

Italian liners in Genova 1954 and the RAFFAELLO in Napoli

Bill Miller has sent this suggestive image of five great Finmare passenger liners in Genova in December 1954.

Bill comments: "After the devastation of the Second World War, the Italian passenger fleet was in ruins - only 4 sizable liners remained. Even the likes of the giant Rex and Conte di Savoia were gone. But on December 28th 1954, nine years after the War ended, there was a coincidental gathering at Genoa. It symbolized Italy's postwar renaissance.

From left to right are 5 liners belonging to the Italian Line -- the new Cristoforo Colombo, Vulcania, Conte Grande, Giulio Cesare and Andrea Doria. There were two other passenger ships, the Saturnia and Amerigo Vespucci, in port as well -- creating a gathering of 7 Italian Line ships. But by midnight, this grand collection changed -- the Saturnia, Vulcania and Amerigo Vespucci sailed."

Bill further adds on the Italian Line subject:"My friend Dieter Killinger worked in Lower Manhattan, in the steamship industry and this included Italian Line on Whitehall Street. It was still the boom days of trans-Atlantic service. I sent out a photo recently of a grand gathering of 5 Italian liners at Genoa in December 1954.

Dieter wrote back: "This brings back so many wonderful memories. Often, I lie awake at night and try and remember all the names of the great people I worked with at One Whitehall Street in the early 60's.

Those were the days! I met all incoming Italian Line ships and sailed up the Hudson to the Pier and while doing so, I interviewed passengers in all three classes. On sailing day, I would have a VIP list and make the rounds of the important passengers. Two I particularly remember are Joan Crawford and Giovanni Martinelli, the opera singer. He was gracious; she was not!! Oh what fun! "Thanks for the memories," as Bob Hope used to say. I snapped this photo of the inbound Raffaello at Naples, in August 1973. I was boarding the next day for a 10-night homeward voyage to New York."

Texto e imagens /Text and images copyright L.M.Correia. Favor não piratear. Respeite o meu trabalho / No piracy, please. For other posts and images, check our archive at the right column of the main page. Click on the photos to see them enlarged. Thanks for your visit and comments. Luís Miguel Correia

Reservations But Without Passengers

In 1962, Italian Line's veteran Vulcania, a classic liner dating from 1928, set off from New York's Pier 84 with each of 8 suites booked. But there were no passengers. The suites were used instead for the costumes & dresses being sent to Rome for use by Elizabeth Taylor in the epic film Cleopatra. It might have been the only time in Atlantic liner history that fares were paid but no travelers were present.
This photo comes from the late Vic Scrivens, through Richard Turnwald. Text and phot sent by Bill Miller.

Carreira Lisboa - Nova Iorque

Em 1955 viajava-se de Lisboa para os Estados Unidos nos paquetes das companhias Itália (principalmente os gémeos SATURNIA e VULCANIA) e Greek Line (NEA HELLAS e OLYMPIA), todos com viagens regulares para Nova Iorque e, nalgumas viagens, escalas pelos Açores. Anúncio de saídas da companhia Itália de Julho de 1955.

O Ministro da Marinha queria que Portugal participasse neste tráfego de prestígio e com capacidade para canalizar turistas americanos para Portugal, e chegou a estar prevista a construção de dois paquetes de cerca de 20 000 toneladas, mas infelizmente aideia não vingou. Apesar disto, em 1956 a Companhia Colonial de Navegação prolongou a sua carreira da América Central até à Florida, passando os paquetes SANTA MARIA e VERA CRUZ a visitar regularmente Port Everglades, serviço que se manteve até Abril de 1973. E foi um ero grosseiro retirar o SANTA MARIA, quando podia ter permitido uma entrada de interesses portugueses no mercado de cruzeiros, então emergente, dos EUA e Caraíbas. Foi o que a principal concorrente da Colonial na linha da América Central fez, com o FEDERICO C, mas nós preferimos nada fazer para além de mandar para a sucata um paquete magnífico com menos de 20 anos de serviço. Bastava melhorar um pouco os camarotes e principalmente substituir as turbinas a vapor por motores diesel, como a Costa fez com o CARLA C (em Amesterdão, no mesmo estaleiro que converteu o nosso FUNCHAL) e diversificar as actividades para bem de todos...

Texto e imagens /Text and images copyright L.M.Correia. Favor não piratear. Respeite o meu trabalho / No piracy, please. For other posts and images, check our archive at the right column of the main page. Click on the photos to see them enlarged. Thanks for your visit and comments. Luís Miguel Correia