Works for liners
Italia – 1965
Cruise passenger ship, Sunsarda.
| Shipyard | Felszegi, Muggia (Trieste) |
| Tonnage | 12,218 ton |
| Length | 149.00 m |
| Larghezza | 20.72 m |
| Motor system | 2 Sulzer CRDA diesels 2x8,000 cv 9 cil. - twin screws |
| Manufacturer | Fabbrica macchine S. Andrea, Trieste |
| Cruising speed: | 19 knots |
| Passengers | 706 + 240 crew |
| 1963 | arranged on 23 June |
| 1965 | launched on 29 April |
| 1967 | 12 November, sails towards Los Angeles, chartered to Princess Cruises |
| 1973 | re-delivered to Crociere d’Oltremare, Cagliari |
| 1974 | chartered to Costa, purchasing it in 1977 |
| 1983 | sold to Ocean Cruise Lines, Panama, renamed Ocean Princess and transformed in Greece for luxury cruises |
| 1990 | sold to Croisières Paquet, Nassau, Bahamas |
| 1993 | the ship collides with a wreck in Amazonia, is sold, repaired and delivered to Sunshine Cruise Line; April, sold to Ellis Marine, Piraeus, Greece; May, towed to Piraeus for repair; sold to Fleetwood Maritime, Kingston, Saint Vincent, renamed Sea Prince |
| 1995 | June, damaged by fire, sold to Princesa Oceanica (Louis Cruise Lines), Limassol Cipro, renamed Princesa Oceanica |
| 1996 | March, after considerable repair and renovation works the ship is chartered to Thomson Cruise under the name Sapphire |
| 2004 | October, transferred to the register of Marshall Islands |
| 2008 | November, sold to Sydelle Navigation Co., Majuro, Marshall Islands |
| 2010 | September, registered in Malta; October, retreated from duty in Eleusis bay |
| 2012 | April, sold to Taymouth Ltd, Kingstown, St. Vincent and Grenadine; renamed Aspire for the last trip to Alang (India) where is demolished. |
Architects and interior designers
Gustavo Pulitzer Finali, Romano Boico, Umberto Nordio, Vittorio Frandoli.
Artists
Marcello Mascherini, Nino Perizi.
Works by Mascherini:
- The ship Italia, addressed to customers particularly selected, presents an unusual line, anticipating a couple of decades the one shown by the contemporaneous cruise ships: large superstructure windows, life-boats inserted into the ship’s sides, lido bridge for’ard the funnel, the latter one designed by Marcello Mascherini, going back to a “dolphin fin” (Motonave Italia, 1965/1967, cat. 628; see Notiziario navale. La motonave passeggeri «Italia», in “Tecnica italiana”, Trieste, September 1965, p. 581). This theme shall be re-proposed twenty-five years later by architect Renzo Piano’ studio with the recognizable “dolphin contour” of the luxury cruise twin ships Crown Princess and Regal Princess, built by Fincantieri in Monfalcone at the end of the eighties.
- From a letter by Mascherini dated 19 January 1967 to architect Gustavo Pulitzer Finali: “Sorry if only today I reply to your reminder… I have carefully examined your proposals and think that the best I can suggest you is to place one of my very last works, quite successful (a unique example faun). This because, according to my opinion, nothing else is better than to arrange a work of art already made”. It concerns the bronze Fauno (1966, cat. 659), but the project would not have been brought to an end due to illness and death of the architect, who passed away in Genoa on 16 April 1967.
