There's a press release sitting in my inbox
announcing that the Amerigo Vespucci — Italy's training ship, the so-called
most beautiful ship in the world — is sailing into New York Harbor for the
Fourth of July. It'll anchor off New Jersey, join fifty-some tall ships in a
parade up the Hudson, dock at Pier 86, and spend a week hosting Italy's defense
minister, its navy chief, the Carabinieri commander-general, the ambassador to
the U.S., the mayor of Genoa, and a delegation that reads like the guest list for
a state funeral. The America's Cup trophy is flying in from New Zealand to sit
on the deck for a photo. The UN's Chiefs of Police Summit is convening below decks. It is, by any measure, a genuinely big deal — 250 years of American
independence, a navy turning out its flagship to mark it, real history
happening on real water.
And somewhere in the middle of all that pageantry, on Sunday
afternoon at 3 p.m., Veronafiere is giving a PowerPoint about Vinitaly.USA. Woo-hoo!
