It promised to be a nice Sunday show off the coast of Barcelona. It was not possible. In the script it was foreseen that the Amerigo Vespucci, training ship of the Italian military navy launched in 1931, would sail along the coast of Barcelona with most of its 26 sails unfurled. At the same time, the modern AC40 with which the Luna Rossa team is becoming familiar with the waters where it will compete, would sail around it. Sponsored by the very Italian brands Prada and Pirelli, this fast training sailboat has been in and out of what will be its base of operations in the Catalan capital for just over a week, next to the north entrance, Marina Vela and the W hotel.
This navigation of two ships separated by almost a century although united by their sails, was going to be one of the first shows that this event promises for those who, from the beaches, breakwaters and other points along the coast, look towards the Mediterranean. In fact, some fans, aware of the presence of the legendary Italian school ship on the Barcelona coast, went to the large terrace at the foot of the Vela hotel to see and photograph the two ships evolving together, although they were left with the desire and could only see the veteran sailboat a few miles to the north.
The Amerigo Vespucci, which had not passed through Barcelona for a decade, arrived in the area at dawn and at 11:15 a.m. it passed three nautical miles (about 5.5 kilometers) from the Olympic port, out to sea. The meeting with the Luna Rossa team was scheduled to take place at 12 noon, although the weather was not good. The combination of strong waves, swells and at the same time little wind, prevented the AC40 from sailing, although captain Luigi Romagnoli kept his invitation. Instead of sailing the sea at the same time, the sailors came to the training ship in the support boats, visited the ship and even went up to the mainmast, where they took some photos and saw their training area from the heights.
Between 12:40 and 14:40, the veteran military ship navigated very slowly, making a wide oval off the coast of Badalona, ??practically stopping two nautical miles (3.7 kilometers) from the mouth of its port. After the usual photos and greetings, the civil and military crews said goodbye and wished each other luck in the following months. The first returned to her home in Barcelona and the second resumed her march towards Puerto de la Luz and Las Palmas, in Gran Canaria, where she will complete the current stage, which started in Marseille on July 7.
The Amerigo Vespucci is known in the maritime world as “the most beautiful ship in the world” and the Italian Military Navy remembers that name whenever it has the opportunity. The history of this adjective goes back to July 1962. That summer, sailing through the Mediterranean, the sailboat coincided with the aircraft carrier USS Independence. The American ship communicated with the Italian in morse with light signals asking “Who are you?” receiving as an answer: “Amerigo Vespucci training ship, Italian Navy”. The American ship then reportedly replied: “You are the most beautiful ship in the world.”
At that moment, a phrase was born that has accompanied the Italian sailboat for 61 years, in which it has continued to sail in training tasks for new sailors and has served as a floating Italian embassy in all the ports visited, to which it will add those of the current campaign, the most ambitious in its history and in which the government of the Republic, chaired by the journalist Georgia Meloni since October 2022, has wanted him to also be an ambassador “of the best of Made in Italy”.
The school ship set sail from Genoa on July 1 and will not return to Italy until February 2025. In this long period of time, it will carry out 31 navigation and stopover stages in 28 countries on five continents. Among the many highlights is that she will cross the Pacific Ocean for the second time in her long history and this time she will cross from the Atlantic the old-fashioned way: through the Strait of Magellan, south of South America. On the previous occasion, during her round-the-world trip in 2002-2003, she passed from one ocean to another through the Panama Canal, the seaway opened in 1914.
In the 18 months of travel, both students and crew will carry out several relays. During this first period that ends at the beginning of April in Fortaleza, Brazil, 264 crew members and a hundred cadets travel. After Las Palmas, they will continue their trip to Dakar, in Senegal, Praia, in Cape Verde, Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic and Cartagena de Indias, in Colombia.
After Fortaleza, where the cadets who will return to Italy by air will disembark, the Amerigo Vespucci will continue its journey to Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo and Buenos Aires. In the Argentine capital, the crew will be kept to a minimum, since between November 2023 and April 1, 2024, extensive maintenance work will be carried out to face the following months of navigation.
Giving a complete tour of South America, the next stops will be Ushuaia, Argentina, Punta Arenas and Valparaíso in Chile, Callao, in Peru and Guayaquil, Ecuador. From there it will continue to Balboa, in Panama, Acapulco in Mexico and Los Angeles, in the United States. In the Californian city, a hundred cadets will embark that will later cross the Pacific towards Honolulu, Hawaii and Tokyo, Japan. The trip continues to Manila, in the Philippines and Darwin, in Australia, where the group of cadets embarked in Los Angeles will disembark in October 2024. By then it will be known which ship has won the America’s Cup in its antipodes: Barcelona.
With a new crew, the yacht will continue its next few months of voyages visiting Singapore, Mumbai and Karachi, India and Pakistan. Then there will be a strategic tour of Italian interests through the Gulf states passing through the main ports of Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman. From the Persian Gulf and before entering the Suez Canal, there will be a stopover in Safaga, Egypt and once in the Mediterranean, Larnaca, in Cyprus will be the last stop before the arrival of the Amerigo Vespucci in La Spezia, the end of the trip. where this trip of training, diplomacy and good international image is expected to end on February 11, 2025.
By then, and depending on the winning team, it will also be known if Barcelona will once again host the Copa del América, in this case the 38th edition.
