Thanks Mike,
I’m really glad. Just one small addition: the ship is the Amerigo Vespucci, the Italian Navy’s historic training vessel, widely regarded as one of the most beautiful ships in the world.
It often travels around the world as part of diplomatic visits and cultural exchange initiatives, acting almost like a floating ambassador of Italy.
In general, the Italian Navy is more often engaged in peace missions than in warfare. For example, in 1979 3 vessels were sent to the South China Sea to help rescue Vietnamese boat people.
Those were probably among the first Asian immigrants to Italy. Today, the Vietnamese community is very small, but we have around 300,000 Chinese people living here. They are, for the most part, very hardworking.
Warm greetings from Rome
Antonio
