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These Men Are Building a Ship I n 1947, Italian Prime Minister Alcide De Gasperi secured support from U.S. President Harry Truman for the construction of new ocean liners for the prestigious express service between Genoa, Naples, and New York. De Gasperi thanked Truman by promising, “I will send you the most beautiful ship in […]
En 9
The Giant Motor Ships W ith the construction of the sister ships Saturnia and Vulcania at the Monfalcone shipyard between 1925 and 1928, Cosulich Line revolutionised the large ocean liner by equipping it with a diesel engine. The tall, slender funnels, essential for the steam propulsion of earlier ships, were replaced by a single, wide, […]
En 8
The Shipping Concentrations A t the end of the Great War, three Italian shipping companies were engaged in transatlantic services: Navigazione Generale Italiana (NGI) and Lloyd Sabaudo, both based in Genoa, and Cosulich Line, based in Trieste. The latter, before becoming part of Italy, was known as the Austro-Hungarian Shipping Union but was popularly referred […]
En 7
The Great Migration B etween 1880 and 1914, thirteen million Italians emigrated abroad, with four million choosing the United States as their destination. The departures were announced through posters displayed on city walls. These posters were intended to last only a few weeks, printed on thin, low-quality paper. For this reason, very few have survived […]
En 6
Full Steam Ahead: When Ships Had Paddle Wheels I n 1844, Antonio F. Botte, the director of the Venetian postal service, published the first map of steamship routes in the Italian peninsula. By this time, numerous steamships, all strictly paddle-wheelers but also equipped with auxiliary sails, connected the ports of the Mediterranean. The “Carta postale […]
En 5
From the Post-War Period to the Decline of Ocean Liners I taly emerged devastated from the Second World War, losing almost its entire fleet; only four ocean liners survived, having been requisitioned by the United States for wartime use. To cope with the new wave of migration, every possible hull was salvaged—some were barely seaworthy, […]
En 4
The 1930s and the Great Cruises T he years between the two world wars witnessed the rapid rise of Italian shipyards and shipping companies. Several records established Italian shipbuilders among the best in the world. In 1927, the Augustus of Navigazione Generale Italiana set the record as the largest diesel-powered ship ever built, while in […]
En 3
The Roaring Twenties T he world emerged profoundly altered from the First World War, and many shipping companies struggled to resume operations amidst a drastically changed landscape. The wealthy, stereotypical nobility was replaced by the “middle class,” which became the new reference point for Western society. In the 1920s, the United States closed its borders […]
En 2
From the 19th Century to the Great War O n 29 November 1818, “L’Osservatore triestino” documented the inauguration of the first steamship service in the Mediterranean between Trieste and Venice with the steamship Carolina. “The curiosity of the Triestines was soon aroused by the sight of a boat moving across our harbour in all directions, […]
En 1
Introduction T his exhibition examines the evolution of advertising graphics over the course of a century, originating in the 19th century to promote sea travel. The artefacts on display represent a small but significant selection of the 25,000 documents from the “advertising graphics” section preserved in the archive of the cultural association Italian Liners, with […]