There are ships crossing the sea and ships crossing the imagination of a country. Ship Amerigo Vespucci belongs to this second category. Launched in 1931, Marina Militare’s school ship, Vespucci continues to form generations of officers and, at the same time, to represent Italy in the ports of the world.
The North America Campaign 2026 brings the ship to the United States in a year of strong symbolic value: the 250th anniversary of American Independence. The stages of New York and Boston are particularly important. On the one hand, New York, with the arrival on July 4th; on the other, Boston, a city linked to the origins of American history and the Boston Tea Party, where the presence of Vespucci will also be included in the context of Sail Boston.
For the Navy, it’s a training mission. For Italy it is also naval diplomacy, cultural presence and meeting with Italian and Italian-American communities. For those who live Italy from afar, Vespucci is not only a ship: it is a recognizable, concrete symbol, able to hold together sea, formation, memory and identity.
Let’s talk about it with Captain Nicasio Falica, Commander of Nave Amerigo Vespucci.
Commander Falica, Vespucci arrives in the United States in the year of the 250th anniversary of American Independence. With what spirit do you face a campaign that combines formation, naval presence and representation of Italy in such a significant anniversary for the United States?
We face it with the spirit that has always been the ship Amerigo Vespucci and his crew, for almost a century; that spirit in which the importance of putting the training of personnel at the center of the organization, together with the equally traditional and institutional task of naval diplomacy, today leads us to celebrate, together with many other nations, the 250th anniversary from American independence (1776-2026). The ship will participate, in 3 different ports – Baltimore, New York, Boston – to the “SAIL4th250”, an international parade of major sailing ships, to which will take part more than 30 Countries and to which Italy was invited by the United States already in 2021.
New York will be one of the central stages of the North American Campaign, from 4 to 8 July, on the days of American celebrations. In a city that is together entrance door, global symbolic capital and great international stage, which image of Italy can offer Vespucci?
Nave Amerigo Vespucci, which we could assimilate to a real traveling embassy on the sea, is first and foremost able to bring with pride the value culture of the Navy and our Country, made of those values that represent our national and maritime identity. In these terms, New York is definitely a privileged space to promote, through the presence of Vespucci, the image of Italy as a reliable, competent country and bearer of shared values.
After New York, Vespucci will stop in Boston from 11 to 14 July, a city symbol of American origins, where the Boston Tea Party marked one of the decisive steps towards the independence of the United States. In the context of Sail Boston, what does Vespucci mean to take part in a frame so linked to the history of the great sailors, the sea and freedom, while at the same time meeting an Italian and Italian-American community deeply rooted?
I believe that the Vespucci, the longest unit of the Navy, encloses in a single platform, indeed in a single soul – made of women and men who daily work on board with passion – every element you mentioned and that the traditional frame of Boston offers us.
Love and respect for the sea, the marine tradition on the groove of what is transmitted, from generation to generation, starting from the great sailing ships, the passion for sailing and the commitment to freedom of navigation on the seas are values deeply embodied in the spirit and culture of the Navy and interiorized, authentically, aboard the ship Amerigo Vespucci. With these premises, we eagerly await Boston’s stop, with the incoming naval parade and the great opportunity to meet the Italian-American community of the city.
The ship is admired for its beauty, but remains first of all a school ship. What does a young official student learn today on board the Vespucci who could hardly learn in the same way elsewhere?
On board the Vespucci the young students learn, first of all, to confront themselves: with their limits, their choice of life, their ability to adapt and to make team, with their inclination to the spirit of service; and they do it in a very close relationship with the natural element, made of sea and wind: a dimension hardly replicable on a different platform. Since 1931, every generation of Marina Officers has received the baptism of the sea here, on board this school ship, where every element, from the hemp of the peaks used to maneuver, the sails in holona canvas, the wood of the blanket and the marine equipment speaks of tradition and transmission of skills, experience, responsibility.
In an era dominated by technology, digital navigation and complex systems, why does it still make sense to form the officers even on a sailing ship, where do they count wind, maneuver, discipline, individual responsibility and crew work?
Because I think innovation can not go through tradition, an element that we believe is essential and fundamental in the field of training and valorisation of our maritime identity. The Navy is avant-garde in many sectors and we continue to study and invest in order to innovate more and more, without forgetting our roots and the art of those who first crossed the sea. In summary, yes innovation, but without sacrificing tradition. To make a very simple example, even on board the Vespucci are installed modern electronic navigation systems, rather than satellite communication, but nevertheless in navigation, after sunset, when far from the lights of the coast, the students still carry the “astronomy observances”, that is, determine the position of the ship recognizing and measuring the height of the stars on the horizon, just like our ancestors navigators. And then on board the Vespucci, measuring with maneuvers to the sails and many other manual activities, the students understand and interiorize the great value of the human factor and, above all, understand how important it is to make a team and how “to be an Equipaggio” can represent the amp factor of the ability and skills of the individual. They understand, because they read it every day under the master tree, that “Not who begins but what perseveres”, because the sea and the wind do not make discounts and determination and perseverance always pay off every effort.
The Vespucci brings with it a strong emotional heritage: many Italians feel it “appropriate”, even without ever getting on board. How do you live, as Commander, the responsibility to lead not only a military unit, but a national symbol recognized in the world?
I think not “many”, but “all” the Italians must feel their own. This is the spirit with which I approached the ship Amerigo Vespucci from the first day of command and is the feeling with which I and my crew welcome every compatriot on board. I like to say that the Vespucci is not only Marina, it is not only Defense, but it is Italy. I believe it! I would like to take each of the 60 million Italians home, to which I would add the additional 7 million residents abroad, starting from those who have not so far had the opportunity. To give you an idea, when we are abroad we like to tell our compatriots who go up on board “Welcome on board, welcome back home!”.
During the North American Campaign, Vespucci will meet institutions, citizens, students, families and Italian communities and Italian-discipients in different cities. Looking above all at the youngest, what can a ship like this of Italy today and the relationship between roots, identity and future?
It can convey respect, love and attachment to our nation, institutions and our traditions.
He can still teach that the will, determination, dedication and passion for what we choose and what we do, combined with discipline and spirit of service, always repay and are a source of great satisfaction, personal and professional. Some values, embodied on this ship, are indispensable and, I think, are part of the genetic patrimony of Italians and, as such, do not have age and do not lose themselves with generational changes.
Commander, let’s end with a more personal question. When he entered the Navy, would he have imagined a day to command ship Amerigo Vespucci? And what would you say today to the young officer who was then, as well as to the boys and girls who enter today in the Navy looking at this ship as a symbol and a school of life?
When I entered the Navy, from the Official Student at the Naval Academy, I saw so far and ambitious the goal of the end of the first year of studies and the much-needed boarding from student to ship Vespucci for the 1998 Training Campaign. Almost 30 years have passed, I remember very well the 99 days of that campaign in the Mediterranean. I remember reading so many times, on the traditional brass plate, the names of the Commandants who had succeeded since 1931; but the thought that at a distance of years I would have had this honor, no, although ambitious, I was perhaps too young to look so far beyond the horizon. I can say, however, that when I heard about it, I lived it with the same enthusiasm of the day when I first set foot on the deck, with the pupil uniform, in the distant 1998.
To the young officers of today I say the same things I repeat from my entrance to the Navy, as very personal:
“You have chosen the most beautiful profession in the world, able to combine competence, responsibility, passion and adventure, in a simply extraordinary environment like the sea, and inserted into a formidable team of people who have enthusiastically made your own choice, which responds to the name of EQUIPAGGIO. I say that the goal, the goal, whatever it is, is within the reach of anyone who believes and shows dedication, commitment, passion and perseverance, just as Vespucci ship teaches us. Every goal passes by commitment and sacrifice, distrusted by shortcuts. There is no lift to climb on the slopes of the Vespucci, there is no joystick to manoeuvre the sails without sweat. This allows us to understand, appreciate and value every effort and sacrifice. Those who choose this profession, know that there will be hard times, there will be departures and people greeted in the dock; but, at the same time, there will be satisfactions and sensations difficult to describe and there will be reentries and hugs, made of human warmth and emotion. You are at the beginning of a unique and authentic journey, so for your future I can only say: Not those who begin, but what perseveres.”.
L’articolo The Vespucci commander tells the American voyage of the ship proviene da IlNewyorkese.
