Amerigo Vespucci is one of the most famous and beautiful sailing vessels in history. She is part of the Italian Navy, known as the Marina Militare. She is a training ship named after the Italian navigator and explorer Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512). His name was used to depict the “New World.”
Interesting facts about “Amerigo Vespucci”
Nowadays, her home port is La Spezia, and she is used in the training of the Navy cadets, but she also took part in diplomatic missions and collaborated during the years with UNICEF, Marevivo, and WWF, being involved with environmental protection initiatives.
Her construction was ordered in 1925 by the Regia Marina (the Royal Italian Navy) and she was built in 1930 at the naval shipyard Reggio Cantiere di Castellammare di Stabia, Naples.
She was launched on the 22nd of February 1931 and began her service in the Italian Navy in July of the same year, when her first voyage took place in Northern Europe.
Along with “Amerigo Vespucci”, there was a second ship ordered to be built, called “Cristoforo Colombo”, launched on the 4th of April 1928; she was part of the Italian Navy until 1943.
The style of “Americo Vespucci” is meant to resemble the ships of the line, which were a type of naval warships that were used to be built during the Age of Sail (from the 17th century until the half of the 19th century). They used to have 74 cannons.
“Amerigo Vespucci” is fully rigged and has an overall length of 101 meters, a width of 15.5 meters, and a draft of 7.3 meters, weighing 4146 tons. She can reach 19 km per hour (10 knots) and has three masts made of steel reaching the following heights: 50 meters, 54 meters, and 43 meters. They are called the foremast, the main mast, and the mizzen mast.
If the weather conditions are extreme, she can reach 22 km per hour (12 knots).
She also has 26 sails of different types such as canvas which are traditional, jibs, staysails, as well as square sails. Most of her ropes are made of hemp and her mooring lines are made of synthetic fabrics to comply with the port regulations.
Her hull is painted black and along it, there are two white stripes, as a reminder of the warships that inspired her design, although she only has two six-pounder saluting guns. Her deck is made of teak that has to be replaced once every three years and on the bow and stern there can be seen beautiful golden detailed embellishments.
Her bow is adorned with Amerigo Vespucci’s full-scale golden figurehead.
In general, her crew is made of around 264 people (seamen, officers, petty officers, sergeants, as well as non-commissioned officers) but during the Training Campaign, there are also the cadets who are part of the Accademia Navale embarking on “Amerigo Vespucci” and the total number of her crew reaches around 400 people.
She received the compliment and thus the name “the most beautiful ship in the world” in 1962 while sailing the Mediterranean Sea, from the “USS Independence”, which was an aircraft carrier that belonged to the United States Navy.
Sixty years later, in 2022, while sailing close to another aircraft carrier called “USS George H. W. Bush”, she received from them the compliment: “Amerigo Vespucci, after 60 years you are still the most beautiful ship in the world!”.
Here you can see a heartwarming video of the two crews interacting and “Amerigo Vespucci” being complimented on her beauty.
“Amerigo Vespucci” Tour Mondiale 2025
In 2023, “Amerigo Vespucci” began an amazing journey on the 1st of July 2023 that lasted 20 months, until 2025.
During this time she visited 30 countries located across 5 continents, stopping in 35 ports, eager to share the beauty as well as innovation of Italy and its heritage with visitors, institutions, and businesses through exhibitions, meetings, and events about art, history, culture, gastronomy, science, industry, technology and research.
The motto of “Amerigo Vespucci” is “Non chi comincia ma quel che persevera”, meaning “Not he who begins but he who perseveres”, a motto attributed to Leonardo da Vinci.
During her World Tour, “Amerigo Vespucci”‘s aim was to strengthen diplomatic and international relations and promote Italy across the globe while stopping in some of the most important ports in the world.
The last circumnavigation of the ship took place twenty years ago.
After her World Tour 2023-2025, “Amerigo Vespucci” returned to Italy and her home port, La Spezia, and will share with the locals all the amazing things discovered along the way. She will begin a new voyage called the Mediterranean Tour, visiting 17 cities, 15 of them located in Italy.
During this new adventure, Villagio IN Italia will play an important role, whose outstanding contribution was of utmost importance during the World Tour, when they depicted and promoted the beauty and innovation of Italy to other countries.
Italians will be able to immerse themselves, discover, and relive all the wonders, memorable moments, experiences as well as stories during the two years of “Amerigo Vespucci”‘s voyage with the help of exclusive content.
This new voyage in her home country will last 15 weeks and she will conclude her tour on the 10th of June, in Genoa, when Navy Day is celebrated.
Among the Italian cities she will visit we mention Trieste, Venice, Ancona, Ortona, Brindisi, Taranto, Porto Empedocle, Reggio Calabria, Palermo, Naples, Cagliari, Gaeta, Civitavecchia, Livorno and lastly, Genoa.
Come Aboard the Amerigo Vespucci
If you live in Italy or you will be visiting any of the above-mentioned cities during the upcoming months and want to book a visit aboard “Amerigo Vespucci”, you can do so using their official website: https://tourvespucci.it/en/come-aboard/
You’ll need to complete the registration and you will be given a QR code and, you will also need to have a valid ID.
Please note that it is not allowed to wear high heels or shoes with open toes while on the ship.
If the weather is bad, it is possible the visit will be canceled, so make sure you check the website two hours prior to the scheduled event.
Furthermore, we suggest you read all the information listed on the official website before booking your visit.
“Amerigo Vespucci” will remain in history known as “the most beautiful ship in the world” and her beauty enchanted many people for almost a century.
She is also the oldest active military ship in the Italian Navy, and, during her service, she continuously contributed to strengthening international relations, naval diplomacy and promoting Italian culture, art, and innovation during her voyages across the world.
We look forward to following and learning more about her new exciting adventures and we wish “Amerigo Vespucci” and her wonderful crew fair winds and following seas!