The Amerigo Vespucci tall ship, a naval vessel named after Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci, is set to embark on a two-year voyage to promote the country’s food, wine, culture, and design. Spearheaded by Italy’s right-wing Brothers of Italy party, the announcement is one of the latest iterations of the conservative government’s tendency toward nationalistic expressions of Italian identity.
Built in 1930, the ship will set sail on July 1 to “bring Made in Italy and the excellence of our country to the world, according to Guido Crosetto, the country’s defense minister. “The armed forces are in the field to protect Italian cultural and economic heritage,” Crosetto added.
The two-year Made in Italy tour is the latest bid to safeguard and promote Italian culture. New legislation introduced by Prime Minister Georgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party seeks to penalize Italians who use English words in official communications with fines up to €100,000, or roughly $109,000. The legislation, which includes all foreign languages, is especially geared toward English. The draft, introduced by Fabio Rampelli, a member of the lower chamber of deputies, states that the use of the English language “demeans and mortifies” the Italian language.
The government has also moved to ban food grown in laboratories, particularly lab-grown meat, in efforts to protect the nation’s culinary heritage. Francesco Lollobrigida, the head of the country’s Ministry for Agriculture and food sovereignty, spoke of the importance of Italy's culinary heritage. The move was also supported by the farmers’ lobby. "Laboratory products do not guarantee quality, well-being, and the protection of the Italian food and wine culture and tradition, to which part of our tradition is linked,” said Lollobrigida. If this proposal is accepted, breaking the ban would result in fines of up to €60,000 ($65,700).
Asia London Palomba
Asia London Palomba is a trilingual freelance journalist from Rome, Italy. In the past, her work on culture, travel, and history has been published in The Boston Globe, Atlas Obscura, The Christian Science Monitor, and Grub Street, New York Magazine's food section. In her free time, Asia enjoys traveling home to Italy to spend time with family and friends, drinking Hugo Spritzes, and making her nonna's homemade cavatelli.