Post by La Stampa

In England they call it “The Big Repair.” For years, at the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, HMS Victory—the flagship from which Horatio Nelson won the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805—has been at the heart of the world's largest historic ship restoration project. More than 3,500 tons of vessel, 70 meters long and 16 meters wide. And it matters little that the Union Jack flies from her mainmast: the man leading the work is Italian master shipwright Leonardo Bortolami. At 42 years old—born in Padua but long since adopted by Lombardy—Bortolami will, from September, be among the instructors at the new School of Master Shipwrights organized by the Fondazione Officine dell'Acqua in Laveno Mombello, on Lake Maggiore. It is a one-of-a-kind program in Italy dedicated to training future generations of naval carpenters and preserving one of the oldest and most prestigious trades in Italian seafaring. […] Leggi la versione in inglese del racconto di Edoardo Venditti su La Stampa National Italian American Foundation #LaStampa

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