La Veloce vintage travel poster – 1889

La Veloce vintage Genove, Napoli cruise travel  poster – 1889

This beautiful vintage Italian Shipping poster was created in 1889 to promote the shipping services of La Veloce Linea di Navigazione Italiana a Vapor. The company was founded in 1884 by Matteo Bruzzi, to provide a fast, reliable shipping service between Italy and Brazil. The ocean liner sailing would leave the Italian port of Genoa, calling at Naples and Africa before making its transatlantic crossing to Rio de la Plata, Brazil and New York in Central America.

The poster depicts the ocean liner steamship Nord America. The ship was originally built in Glasgow, Scotland in 1882 and was named the SS Stirling Castle.  She entered service for the Thomas Skinner & Co London company and was used in the tea trade from China. However, it was soon realised that the ship was far too uneconomical to operate the service. After just a year, SS Stirling Castle was sold to the Italian shipping company La Veloce. The ship was refitted to provide accommodation for passengers and renamed SS Nord America. Her first voyage from Genoa to South America began on 13 November 1883. In 1884, the company had a fleet of 83 vessels, and by the end of the nineteeth century and early part of the twentieth century, La Veloce’s main business was the transportation of Italian immigrants to Brazil. It is believed that the La Veloce company transported around 30 million people in nearly 50 years.

Our posters are carefully and professionally created from vintage originals. Whilst great care is taken in the production of these posters, we also try to maintain a vintage feel, so there may be small imperfections, fold marks, scuffs, tears, or marks that were part of the original poster master. If these do appear they should be visible on the larger views of the item on this listing. The originals of many of the posters we offer can cost many thousands of pounds, so whilst these posters look great, especially framed and mounted on a wall, they are intended as fun, affordable reproductions and not intended fine art prints.

The 50x70cm version has been specially produced to be used in conjunction with Ikea’s 50x70cm Ribba picture frame which currently retails for around £12. So you can bag a bargain of print and frame for a great price.