#italianline

[antnich]

MICHELANGELO'S MAIDEN VOYAGE...

July, 1965. At the Italian port of Genoa, a technicolor torrent of brilliant, fluttering farewell streamers festoon the bridal white flank of the mighty Michelangelo.

The liner is embarking on her maiden voyage from Genoa to New York. She is the first of a pair of 45,000 ton floating ripostes to the seemingly all conquering Jet Age. Her sister ship- the Raffaello- will follow just a few weeks later.

The euphoria of the scene depicted here is obvious. The sense of sheer, brazen bravado enshrined in those towering, twin hulls is mind blowing.

Truth be told, the Michelangelo and Raffaello were both massive, magnificent gambles. Playing against the house, the Italian Line made two last throws of the dice...

#oceanliners #oceanlinerstyle #oceanlinerhistory #italianline #michelangelo #raffaello #sunnysouthernroute #genoa #genova #Newyork #transatlantic #travelhistory #travelheritage #travelphotography #maidenvoyage #artoftravel #TWA #travelswithanthony #timetravel #ladolcevita #jetage

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Anthony Nicholas (@anthony.nicholas.560)

[steamship-historical-society]

On September 27, 1932, Rex made her maiden voyage. Images from Rex brochures, SSHSA Archives. The second and third images are from a first class brochure. ⚓️ . . . . . #otd #onthisday #thisdayinhistory #onthisdayinhistory #shiphistory #sshsa #brochures #rex #italianline #ssrex #maritime #history #nonprofit #didyouknow #maidenvoyage #historicbrochure #brochuredesign #art #archives (at The Steamship Historical Society of America) https://www.instagram.com/p/BoPX7hDDYJ5/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1g0jdhi0uma5z

[msantoniagraza]

Improvised murals on the main deck around the bar.... 

[ransomeandgwynn-blog]

For your consideration: A 1930’s vintage souvenir wooden playing card box from the passenger ship Conte Di Savoia of the Italian Line. The ship was in service from 1932 to 1940. #ransomeandgwynn #oceanliner #italianline #cruiseship #1930svintage #palyingcards #contedisavoia

[steamship-historical-society]

Who’s excited to honor the Italian Line at the 4th Annual Ocean Liner Dinner on May 4, 2019? ⚓️ Image from Italian Line Brochure, Ephemera Collection, SSHSA Archives. . . . . #shiphistory #shiphistorycenter #sshsa #shipsters #italianline #oceanlinerdinner #maritime #history #maritimehistory #steamships #steamship #steam #education #nonprofit #archive #museum #library #research (at The Steamship Historical Society of America)

[steamship-historical-society]

SAVE THE DATE - the 4th annual Ocean Liner Dinner will be held on May 4, 2019 and feature the Italian Line!! Image from an Italian Line menu, SSHSA Archives. ⚓️ . . . #oceanlinerdinner #italianline #menu #historicmenu #nonprofit #fundraiser #art #shiphistory #archive #archives #library #museum #education #sshsa #shipsters #shiphistorycenter (at The Steamship Historical Society of America)

[antnich]

ITALIAN LINE ADVERTISING POSTER...

By the early 1970's, the Italian Line was locked in a life or death struggle for survival with the second generation of new, mass market passenger jet aircraft.

Unlike their northern route rivals such as Cunard, the French Line, Holland America and North German Lloyd, the Italian Line had largely held it's own throughout the 1960's. The Italians were a particularly sea minded people, and their front rank passenger ships routinely put out from Genoa and New York with good to full passenger loads.

Part of that was down to the allure of the so- called 'Sunny Southern' route that Italian ships routinely plied. The experience was mostly more cruise like than some purposeful northern passage. More 'dolce vita' than downright violent style of voyaging.

That all changed when the Boeing 747- the Jumbo Jet- was first put into commercial service in 1970. Soon, the big, brilliant new jets were biting chunks out of the remaining rump of the ocean liner trade, and the endgame was at hand...

#oceanliners #italianline #michelangelo #raffaello #leonardodavinci #cristoforocolombo #boeing747 #jumbojet #sunnysouthernroute #genoa #newyorkcity #travelposters #travelhistory #travelheritage #artoftravel #TWA #travelswithanthony #timetravel #elegantadventures #ladolcevita

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Anthony Nicholas (@anthony.nicholas.560)

[antnich]

THE ANDREA DORIA...

Under clear, sunny southern skies, the sublime Andrea Doria surges purposefully across the calm, sunlit waters of the Mediterranean, outward bound for New York.

Many people still regard her as the most beautiful of the entire first generation of post war ocean liner newbuilds. The Andrea Doria was not built to compete on the Atlantic in terms of either size or speed, but rather to emphasise all the easy, assured sense of elegance and pizzaz of 'Italy Afloat'.

She really was a sublime, shimmering slice of maritime architecture. A dazzling, pristine kind of beautifully primped show pony, overlaid with a surfeit of elegant, but never truly excessive interior decor. She neatly sidestepped the excessive, overblown visual bombast that had characterised her great, pre war peers such as the Rex.

The tragedy that overwhelmed her off the fog shrouded shores of Nantucket on July 25th, 1956 has gone a huge way towards eroding the memories of the many, happy voyages that she made during her three and a half years of successful commercial service.

That, in itself, is also a tragedy. For this fine, fatefully destined siren of the seas was far, far more than simply the disaster that overwhelmed her...

#transatlantic #cruise #travelhistory #travelheritage #travelphotography📷 #italianline #sunnysouthernroute #andreadoria #rex #Stockholm #nantucket #northatlantic #artoftravel #TWA #travelswithanthony #thejourneymatters #disastersatsea #oceanliners #oceanlinerstyle #thegreatliners

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Anthony Nicholas (@anthony.nicholas.560)

[antnich]

ON BORROWED TIME...

Sometime in the early 1970's, the Italian liner Michelangelo heads downstream from her New York pier, bound for Italy. The twin towers of the World Trade Centre are nearing completion at this stage.

For some years, the Michelangelo and her sister ship, Raffaello, seemed to hold their own against the steadily encroaching jet aircraft. But appearances were deceptive.

The writing was not so much on the wall as it was in the sky, carried in the vapour trail of every Boeing 747 that lofted overhead. As the jets soared overhead, the number of passengers travelling by sea plummeted. By 1970, the liners carried just four per cent of the travelling trade.

The OPEC oil crisis of the early Seventies was the straw that broke the camel's back. Both of those mink clad Italian catwalk models guzzled Bunker C crude oil like so much cheap chianti.

Ultimately, it simply could not be sustained...

#oceanliners #cruise #travelhistory #travelphotography📷 #newyorkcity #worldtradecentre #hudsonriver #OPECoilcrisis #boeing747 #jumbojet #airtravel #jetage #italianline #michelangelo #raffaello #bunkerccrudeoil #transatlantic #travelhistory #travelheritage #sunnysouthernroute #artoftravel #TWA #travelswithanthony #timetravel #thejourneymatters

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Anthony Nicholas (@anthony.nicholas.560)

[steamship-historical-society]

On September 11, 1943, the Conte di Savoia was sunk by an aircraft near Venice. Art by Don Stoltenberg. ⚓️ . . . . #otd #onthisday #thisdayinhistory #italianline #contedisavoia #steam #shiphistory #shiphistorycenter #donstoltenberg #art #nonprofit #maritime #maritimehistory #steamship #sshsa #shipsters (at The Steamship Historical Society of America) https://www.instagram.com/p/BnmJc6YjP4v/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1qrzc521yr4cg