HONOLULU — The “most beautiful ship in the world” is docked in Honolulu, and its crew is welcomed residents to visit.
The Amerigo Vespucci, a 93-year-old sailing ship the Italian Navy uses as a training vessel for first-year cadets at its naval academy, arrived Thursday at Honolulu Harbor’s Pier 9 by Aloha Tower. It’s the latest stop in a two-year world tour for the historic tall ship, following a port call in Los Angeles.
It’s the Vespucci’s second time in Hawai‘i, having stopped here in 2002 during a world tour.
Commanding officer Capt. Giuseppe Lai said it is “very exciting” to return to Honolulu 22 years after its last visit. “The tour actually started last year, July 1, in Genoa. So after transiting the Atlantic Ocean and circumnavigating South America, we are now heading to Asia,” he said.
Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi stood on the pier to welcome the Vespucci and its crew as they arrived.
“We’re just so honored to have it come to Hawai‘i, and for me, given my Italian heritage, this is just something really extra special,” Blangiardi said.
The three-masted ship is nearly 330 feet long and more than 177 feet tall. Its crew labors tirelessly to keep the venerable vessel ship-shape and looking brand new. The current crew is made up of 264 military service members.
The Vespucci got its label of the “most beautiful ship” from an exchange on July 12, 1962, when the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Independence sailed past the full-rigged ship and flashed a light signal in Morse code asking for identification, to which it responded, “Training ship Amerigo Vespucci, Italian Navy.”
The American carrier signaled back with, “You are the most beautiful ship in the world.”
It’s named after Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian merchant and explorer who gained fame for sailing from the East Coast of North America to the bottom of South America. The oldest ship in the Italian navy, it has performed 74 training cruises since 1931.
“Having their presence here means new building more bridges between Hawai‘i and Italy,” said Sergio Strozzi, Italy’s San Francisco-based consul general. Strozzi said the “presence of an Italian sailing ship like this, which is handmade … this represents how Italy is working on climate and green energy.”
He stressed that while the Vespucci is a military ship and the cadets aboard are getting experience at sea, it’s also a cultural mission involving several other Italian government agencies, including environmental and energy ministries, and has been cooperating with organizations such as UNESCO and the World Wildlife Fund.
Aboard the ship are displays on plastic pollution and other threats to the ocean.
The ship will be open to the public, with the crew giving tours and answering questions.
“(The Vespucci) brings here friendship with Italy and also puts the two cultures together to show what Italians do,” said Dr. Michele Carbone, a prominent local medical researcher who also serves as Italy’s honorary consul for Hawaii.
“They love the sea like we love the sea in Hawai‘i. I hope that many residents here will come to see the most beautiful ship of the world and that the two cultures will learn to become friends with each other.”
But it’s not just cultural engagement in Hawai‘i that interests the Italian navy. While the tall ship stops in Honolulu, the Italian warship ITS Montecuccoli has been off Hawai‘i participating in Exercise Rim of the Pacific along with other assembled naval forces as part of the world’s largest recurring military exercise.
The Montecuccoli is the first Italian ship to participate in RIMPAC. Germany and the Netherlands also sent ships from Europe for the first time this year. The growth of Chinese military power and simmering tensions along key trade routes in the Pacific have caused several European countries to show increased interest in the Pacific.
“We had the meeting with (the Montecuccoli) in the middle of the ocean two days ago here in front of Hawai‘i,” Lai said. “So I think this is already a big example, a big signal that we are here and we are pleased to have our presence here.”
In January, NATO Director of Policy Planning Benedetta Berti attended a military affairs conference in Waikiki hosted by the Honolulu think tank Pacific Forum. She told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, “We understand, I think, that we are in a more global and interconnected world, and therefore in order to fulfill our mission of the defense and security of the Euro-Atlantic, we need to understand security trends in other regions can affect European security. And I think the Indo-Pacific is probably the most important region from a geostrategic economics perspective in the world.”
But for the cadets aboard Vespucci training to be officers, the world voyage is an opportunity to learn about other cultures. Cadet Lorenzo Di Biccari was able to come ashore briefly before the ship landed in Hawai‘i and got to visit Waikiki and see some of Hawai‘i’s beaches. He said that although Italy has famous beaches of its own on the Mediterranean Sea, seeing what Hawai‘i has to offer is special.
“It’s very relatively strange to understand that we are here, because it’s a very, very, very long distance from home, and it’s something that a lot of European people may not see in their entire life,” Di Biccari said.
When he came ashore officially in his dress uniform, he and other crew members were greeted by local residents with lei, ukulele music and hula.
“It was the most Hawaiian thing I could imagine,” he said. “It was very, very beautiful because it was a very warm ceremony.”
