Italian Navy training ship Amerigo Vespucci to visit Manila

MANILA, Philippines —  The 93-year-old Amerigo Vespucci, a full-rigged ship of the Italian Navy, will dock at the Port of Manila today, the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) said.

The vessel, used as training ship of the Italian Navy, will hold a five-day goodwill visit and would be open to the public, the PPA said in an advisory yesterday. The ship carries 264 officials and cadets.

According to information from the PPA, Amerigo Vespucci has an overall length of 100.50 meters and 3,410 gross tonnage. It also has a 15.56-meter beam and a 7.3-meter draft, and can sail at a speed of 15 knots for sails and 11 knots for engines.

The ship – named after the 15th century Italian explorer and navigator and launched on Feb. 22, 1931 – will be sailing from Hong Kong to Manila, said the PPA.

Amerigo Vespucci is currently on a 20-month voyage around the world, having left Genoa in Italy in July 2023 and visited countries in Europe, Africa and the Americas.

It has embarked on its tour of Asia and Oceania starting in Tokyo, Japan, to be followed by the stop in Manila, according to information from the website of the Amerigo Vespucci Tour Mondiale 2023-2025.