amerigo vespucci tenerife visit 2026

Amerigo Vespucci returns to Tenerife after 50 years

An historic return

The Amerigo Vespucci has arrived in Tenerife. The Italian Navy’s training ship has returned to the island after more than half a century. At dawn today, it docked at the Muelle de Los Llanos after spending the night at coordinates close to Anaga. The oldest operational naval vessel in Italy is open to visitors until next Monday.

Five days in Santa Cruz

The iconic vessel will remain in Santa Cruz de Tenerife for five days. At the helm is Captain Nicasio Falica, who was received at the gangway by the Italian Vice-Consul in the Canary Islands, Gianluca Capelli Bigazzi. The ship’s stopover in the Canaries is part of a 156-day training cruise, with its final destination being New York. During this mission, it will cover 12,151 nautical miles and make thirteen international port calls before returning to its home port of Trieste.

A crew of hundreds

The sailing ship, commanded by Captain Nicasio Falica, arrives in Tenerife with 16 officers, 70 non-commissioned officers, and around 200 sailors and cadets. While its standard crew consists of 264 professionals, during training cycles this number can rise to 425 people. In addition to the academic activities organised during the voyages, the Amerigo Vespucci collaborates on scientific tasks and marine environmental protection with organisations including Unicef, WWF, and Marevivo.

Almost a century old

The Amerigo Vespucci is nearly a century old, though it is slightly “younger” than the Spanish training ship Juan Sebastián de Elcano. The Spanish brig-schooner was launched on 5 March 1927, almost four years before the Italian three-masted sailing ship. The Vespucci’s first duties involved accompanying the Cristoforo Colombo in training sailors, a role it performed until the end of the Second World War. During those years, it began to build a reputation summed up in its motto: Non chi comincia ma quel che persevera (“Not the one who starts, but the one who perseveres”).

A sister ship lost to history

The Amerigo Vespucci got along well with the Cristoforo Colombo, a near-identical Italian sailing ship that was handed over by the Italian government to the former Soviet Union at the end of the Second World War. This arrangement was part of the war reparations concessions agreed in the 1947 Treaty of Paris. Under the hammer and sickle flag, it was renamed the Dunaj, until it ended up in a maritime graveyard and was scrapped in 1971.

Impressive dimensions

As on the Elcano, cadets from the Livorno Naval Academy must climb its steel masts, the tallest of which reaches 54 metres. Its canvas sails cover 2,824 square metres (the Spanish training ship has 20 sails spanning 3,150 square metres) and serve as its propulsion system when the engines are switched off. The vessel is fitted with two Fiat B308 ESS diesel engines coupled to a 1,491.4 kW Marelli electric motor, a fixed four-blade propeller, and four diesel alternators for electricity generation.

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