La Spezia, the town that Jim works in, is a ship-building, shipping, and naval town. The town and surrounding area have been a naval stronghold for millennia. Because of its military value, the Allied Forces leveled La Spezia, making it the third most bombed city in Italy during WWII. In the early 1800s, Napolean built up the naval fortifications in this area after he created the short-lived Ligurian Republic. Before that, the Genoese and Pisans built castles and fortifications along this coast to stake their claims. And before that it was the Greek and Roman navies fighting it out for the land along the sea.The town of La Spezia isn't particularly attractive by tourist standards, perhaps because it has very little old city, but it's a pleasant town with a thriving Tuesday market, broad tree-lined avenues, and wide sidewalks covered by large porticos.
La Spezia's Maritime Festival was nearly two weeks ago. As part of the festival, we toured the Italian navy's tall ship: Amerigo Vespucci. Built in 1930 as a school ship, the Vespucci is 330-feet-long with a steel hull and three masts. It's 30 km of rigging is all in traditional hemp rope, except for the docking lines which are synthetic to meet port standards. With 26 traditional canvas sails and a full gale, it can reach 12 knots per hour. This is a beautiful ship tied up at the dock. Just imagine what it would look like under full sail! The festival had other ships of interest, from the world's largest mobile crane to dozens of ancient ship replicas that teams from all over Italy brought to La Spezia to compete against one another.
Many tourists come to La Spezia but only to catch the train or boat to the Cinque Terre. Because there are so few tourists and because of its military-industrial flavor, it feels like the real Italy.
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