"Andrea Doria", 1952

Born in Genoa, Giovanni Patrone (1904-1963) certainly had ships and ocean liners in his blood.

A commercial artist and painter, he practiced extensively on advertisement posters for major Italian shipping companies like Lloyd Triestino, Tirrenia and Italian Line (the name Italia Flotte Riunite, also known as Italia-Società di Navigazione, chose to go by internationally).

In this selection of leaflets and poster ads, the Ligurian artist portrayed some of the legendary ocean liners that made the history of Italian navigation in the 20th century, including the “Rex” (active from 1931 to 1944), the “Andrea Doria” (1951-1956), the twin sister ships “Saturnia” (1927-1965) and “Vulcania” (1928-1974), the “Conte di Savoia” (1930-1951), the “Conte Biancamano” (1924-1960), the “Conte Grande” (1927-1962) and the “Leonardo da Vinci” (1958-1982).

All aboard!