century-old italian navy training ship visits montreal’s old port

a nearly century-old italian navy training vessel, dubbed “the most beautiful ship in the world,” is visiting montreal this week. the amerigo vespucci, an ornate wooden ship with masts up to 56 metres tall, is on a tour around north america. built in 1931, the ship's technology is all manual, requiring a crew of 264 to traverse the atlantic. during its most recent sail across the atlantic, naval cadets joined for training purposes, bringing the personnel on board to about 400."it was 29 days at sea. it was not a direct route from the canary islands to baltimore, but we went very (far) south to take advantage of trade winds," said capt. nicasio falica, the commanding officer of the ship. "(it was) very challenging, but something very special."

the ship landed at montreal's old port on tuesday after stopping in quebec city, and will remain there until monday. this is amerigo vespucci's last stop in north america; it will return across the atlantic toward ponta delgada, portugal, according to lt. megan fitzgibbon of the canadian coast guard. before coming to canada, it also made stops in new york and boston.the ship will be open to the public for visits on board over the weekend, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and then 2 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on saturday, and again from 2 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on sunday, with the last admission 30 minutes before closing. it is parked next to the grand quay of the port of montreal.

the main goal of the mission across the atlantic is to train the cadets. from 1931 to today, the ship has completed 87 training expeditions, each averaging three months and mainly visiting foreign ports. stops have included the mediterranean, northern europe, the atlantic, north and south america, as well as a circumnavigation of the globe between 2002 and 2003, and again from 2023 to 2025. "if you want to become a navy officer, you have to become a sailor," falica said. "the italian navy believes and invests in innovation, but we don't want to renounce tradition." for example, cadets do not use gps to determine the ship's position but rather measure the stars on the horizon.

hoisting the sails, changing the boat's direction, and dropping the anchors are also all done manually, explained lt. jr. tommaso magenes, a public information officer for the amerigo vespucci. to lift an anchor back onto the boat takes a crew of about 20 to 25. outside the captain's navigation bridge is a plaque engraved with the words "non chi comincia ma quel che persevera," translating to "not he who begins, but he who perseveres.""the cadets read this motto every day," magenes said. details about the public visits can be found online, at tourvespucci.it/en.