1930-Navigazione-Generale-Italiana-Zagabria

Navigazione Generale Italiana (NGI) was an Italian shipping company.

History

The company formed in 1881 by the merger of '' I & V. Florio'' of

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

and ''

Raffaele Rubattino Raffaele Rubattino (10 October 1810, Genoa – 2 November 1881) was an Italian entrepreneur and colonialist who started a shipping company that ran merchant ships on the routes to the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. He was also a founder of the Ital ...

'' of

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

. At the time of the merger, the two companies both operated extensively in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

, with I & V Florio also operating routes to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, and Raffele Rubattino operating routes to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The ter ...

through the

Suez Canal The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popular ...

The Florio Line brought 50 ships into the merger, while Rubattino contributed 40.American Trade With Italy; A New Steam-Ship Line Started To Foster It

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

, June 19, 1881, Page 8 Following the merger, the new company not only maintained the existing service, it expanded by adding service to

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

in 1884. To support the new routes, in 1885, NGI acquired competitors ''Società Italiana Trasporti Marittimi Raggio & Co.'' and ''Società Rocco Piaggio & Figli''. 1890-01-23-La-Veloce-navigazione-italiana

1890-01-23-La-Veloce-navigazione-italiana

''Società Italiana di Transporti Marittimi Raggio & Co.'' was founded in Genoa in 1882 by Carlo, Edilio and Armando Raggio to transport passengers and freight between Italy and South America; ''Società Rocco Piaggio & Figli'' was formed in Genoa in 1870 and operated routes to

Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

and

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

through the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

, then later between Genoa,

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, and

Rio de la Plata Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil. Rio or Río may also refer to: Geography Brazil * Rio de Janeiro * Rio do Sul, a ...

. In 1901, the company further expanded by acquiring the assets of ''La Veloce'', a shipping company formed in 1884 which was liquidated in 1924 following its acquisition by ''Navigazione Generale Italiana''. 1906 brought another expansion with the acquisition of ''Italia Società di Navigazione a Vapore'', a shipping company founded in Genoa in 1899. On June 13, 1910, the ''Società Nazionale dei Servizi Marittimi'' acquired the NGI's Mediterranean routes allowing NGI to focus on the trans-Atlantic operations with 19 remaining vessels. Also in 1910, NGI acquired ''Lloyd Italiano'',Lloyd Italiano
a shipping company started in Genoa in 1904 by

Erasmo Piaggio Erasmo is a given name. Notable people with the name include: *Claudio Erasmo Vargas (born 1974), Mexican race walker *Erasmo Carlos (born 1941), Brazilian singer and songwriter *Erasmo Catarino (born 1977), Mexican singer, winner on the TV show ' ...

who was pursuing links with North and South America. In 1932, NGI merged with Lloyd Sabaudo and

Cosulich Line The Cosulich Line, formally the Cosulich Societa Triestina di Navigazione, is a steamship line that was based in Trieste, Italy. The company had been founded in 1889 by Antonio F. Cosulich's son as a family business. In 1903 as Unione Austriaca di ...

to form the

Italian Line Italian Line and from 1992 Italia Line, whose official name was Italia di Navigazione S.p.A., was a passenger shipping line that operated regular transatlantic services between Italy and the United States, and Italy and South America. During ...

that later built the one-time Italian Blue Riband champion and the ill-fated .

Routes

The company's principal routes were those from Italy-US East Coast and Italy-Brazil/Argentina, both strongly underpinned economically by the emigrant trade.

Fleet

Over the decades of its existence the company had quite an extensive fleet. Amongst these were a group of ships named after the Italian royal family and other aristocrats and figures of Roman history. Amongst the largest of these was the

MS Augustus (1926) MS ''Augustus'' was a combined ocean liner and cruise ship built in 1927 for Navigazione Generale Italiana. The ship was later transferred to the new Italian Line after the merger of Navigazione Generale Italiana. During World War 2 the Roma was ...

1927-46 and its sister ship the

SS Roma SS ''Roma'' can refer to various ships: * SS ''Roma'', built as ''County of Sutherland'' in 1873 for R&J Craig, Glasgow, bought by British India Associated Steamers Ltd in 1881 and renamed ''Roma'', broken up 1898 * * , named ''Roma'' between 19 ...

, others included the SS Giulio Cesare 1922-44 and the

SS Duilio SS '' Duilio '' was the first Italian super ocean liner and one of the largest Italian merchant ships until 1925. She measured 24,281 gross register tons and was the sister of the SS ''Giulio Cesare'', which was launched in 1921. She was constr ...

1923-43.

Ships of the Navigazione Generale Italiana

Pictures

SS Principessa Jolanda launch.jpg, Launch of Principessa Jolanda Principessa Mafalda.jpg, The Principessa Mafalda Duilio-4.jpg, SS Duilio Nave Regina Margherita.png, The Regina Margherita

References

External links

Italian Steamship Lines History and Ephemera Including NGI
GG Archives {{Authority control Shipping companies of Italy 1881 establishments in Italy Companies established in 1881 Florio family