Masters of the Italian Line

The 1960s witnessed a magnificent, if misguided, swansong for the ocean liner. As the decade progressed a steady succession of elaborate new ‘ships of state’ populated the world’s sea lanes, in futile defiance of the vapour trails above them. Into this atmosphere of one-upmanship the Italian Line introduced Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raffaello, the largest, fastest and most prestigious passenger liners in the nation’s post-war merchant marine.Named after the Renaissance masters