Siosa Line MV Irpinia Souvenir dish.

Price: NZ$42.93

Code: BH712

Siosa Line MV Irpinia Souvenir ceramic dish has damage but the image is unaffected. 6” or 152mm long by 4” or 102mm wide approx. See the images for condition a lovely bright little piece.

The Irpinia was built as the Campana in 1929 by Swan, Hunter on the River Tyne. After the fall of France in 1940, Campana was laid up, and later seized by the Argentineans, for whom she ran some trips to New Orleans as the Rio Jachal. In 1946, she was returned to the French, sailing to South America again, but also to Indochina. She was bought by Grimaldi-SIOSA in 1955. She operated from Europe to the Caribbean and Venezuela, with some crossings of the North Atlantic to Canada or New York. In 1962 she received a major facelift, returning to service with only one funnel and Fiat diesels instead of steam turbines. She returned to the Caribbean route, taking Spanish and Portuguese migrants westbound, and west Indian migrants eastbound to the UK. By 1970 she was mainly used for Mediterranean cruising out of Genoa. In 1976, just as she was about to be withdrawn, she was chartered for the making of the film Voyage of the Damned. After the filming, she unexpectedly returned to cruising until 1981.