The crew of the Italian Navy sail training ship ITS Amerigo Vespucci concluded their stay in Boston and are now en route to New York City for their final port visit in North America.
The sail training ship’s visit to Boston was the first in seventeen years. Amerigo Vespucci visited Boston for the sixth time, the first in 1951 and the last one in 2000.
Amerigo Vespucci is now sailing to New York where it is expected to arrive on July 26. New Yorkers will be welcomed aboard at Pier 88 from July 27 to July 30.
Once they conclude their stay in New York, officer cadets will embark on a 20-day transit of the Atlantic taking advantage of the western winds on their way home.
The Italian Navy’s 87-year-old sail training ship start the 2017 training campaign on April 19 departing her homeport of La Spezia, Italy.
After completing the campaign’s first stop in Portugal, navy cadets crossed the Atlantic to visit Canadian port cities of Halifax, Montreal and Quebec City before heading to Boston.
The Amerigo Vespucci is a full-rigged, 100-meter ship named after the famous Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci. She is often referred to as the ‘Lady of the Sea’ and has even been declared as the most beautiful ship in the world by the American aircraft carrier USS Independence when the two met in the Mediterranean Sea in 1962.