Costa Cruises unveils the new Costa Firenze inspired by the Tuscan city. And it's controversy

“Italian beauty travels on the sea.” So goes the slogan that Costa Cruises has conjured up for its new Costa Firenze, a cruise ship entirely inspired by the Tuscan city, with furnishings that recall Florentine art: the white and green marble of the Baptistery, lilies, and the ever-present reproduction of David. “Costa Firenze is a true city of art by the sea,” the official introductions read. Thirteen restaurants (including two inspired by the flavors of Tuscany: Fiorentina Steak House, dedicated to Tuscan meats, and Frescobaldi Wine Experience, for wine lovers), eight bars, an atrium called “Piazza della Signoria” complete with a soaring Marzocco, and then spas, swimming pools, outdoor spaces, a fitness room, a library, children’s clubs-in short, all the paraphernalia typical of a ship for voyages of at least a week. This is a ship built entirely in Italy, since it left Fincantieri ’s shipyards in Marghera last year.

The new ship’s first voyage is also entirely Italian: this weekend, in fact, the Costa Firenze left for its first cruise, which will touch Savona, Civitavecchia, Naples, Catania, Palermo and Cagliari. From the end of July to the end of August, the itinerary will also allow guests to rediscover Malta, with a stop in Valletta, and from September 12 also France (Marseille) and Spain (Barcelona and Ibiza), with departures also from Italy. During winter 2021/22 Costa Firenze will instead be positioned in Dubai to visit the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Oman. The week-long itinerary includes Abu Dhabi, Doha, Muscat, and a long multi-day stop in Dubai, with specific packages for visiting Expo Dubai 2020. Costa Cruises is in fact Gold Sponsor of the Italian Pavilion at Expo Dubai 2020."

“The concept of the Costa Firenze,” said Mario Zanetti, general manager of Costa Cruises, “is inspired by an iconic city that represents Italian art, taste and refinement in the world’s collective imagination. We designed this ship to offer our guests a unique experience, especially for the family and couple target audience. The debut of Costa Firenze, as well as the restart of the other three Costa ships that have returned to cruising in recent weeks, is an opportunity for us to promote a new model of tourism, in which we believe strongly as a leading company in the sector. As we have made explicit in our manifesto, this model aims at collaboration between different entities, public and private, to enhance the excellence of the territories in a sustainable way. The collaboration with the city of Florence is the first concretization of this approach: Costa Firenze will become a real platform to promote the city of Florence all over the world, especially on the occasion of Expo 2020 Dubai.”

Not everything went smoothly, however: hundreds of negative comments were read on the web about the idea of creating a sort of floating amusement park with a Florence theme. But the most heartfelt protests overwhelmed the mayor of the Tuscan capital, Dario Nardella, who is enthusiastic about the new Costa ship, and therefore guilty, according to critics, of endorsing the hit-and-run tourism typical of cruise passengers, when instead the city would need something else, a break with the past. “Today, for the first time,” he said in the aftermath of Costa Firenze’s presentation, “the history of our city is enclosed in a jewel of technology like the new Costa Firenze. It is a tribute to the city, but also a concrete opportunity to promote Florence among all those who will board this ship for an unforgettable cruise. It is a great co-marketing operation between the historic Italian company and our city, which comes at the moment of greatest commitment to revitalize European and international tourism in Florence. We are particularly pleased that the ship will stop at the Dubai Expo where Florence will once again occupy a central role thanks to the realization of the David’s twin. More and more this city succeeds in promoting its beauty with innovative, original and high-profile projects.”

Not only that, there will also be a collaboration between Florence and Costa Crociere. This will be a collaboration to promote tourism in the city, the first act of which will be Costa’s contribution to the restoration of Dante’s plaques on the 700th anniversary of Dante Alighieri’s death. There are a total of 33 stone plaques, placed in as many locations around the city, the result of a historical research project dating back to the early 20th century. Each plaque bears a quotation from one of the three canticles of the Divine Comedy (9 from Inferno, 5 from Purgatorio and 19 from Paradiso) in which reference is made to places, real events and distinguished citizens of the time.

But, as anticipated, there has been much controversy. Among the harshest shared interventions was that of Tommaso Grassi, an exponent of the Florentine left and candidate in the Tuscan regional elections with Toscana a Sinistra, for Fattori Presidente: “Nardella exalts the ship and the Costa Crociere initiative,” he said, “I am not scandalized by the commercial operation, but certainly from the mayor and the institutions I would have expected them not to join the publicity campaign. But the point is another: we were not, or should have been against hit-and-run tourism, against the cruise tours that arrive from the ports of Livorno and Civitavecchia to the cities of art, from Florence to Naples, passing through Rome and the Tuscan hills, that logic of tourism that dirties, exploits the city, buys in the stores that pay better, and that leaves nothing good behind and takes away only the postcard image without having experienced a second as a true citizen discovering the history, culture, traditions and life of where it is. This is what Costa Cruises Florence will do: nothing more, nothing less. They announce with pomp and circumstance what tours will be offered. Evidently Nardella and gang must have changed their minds again about what tourism to fight and what battles to wage.”

Costa Cruises, for its part, had somewhat anticipated the criticism, since the Costa Florence presentation was also an opportunity for Costa to present its Manifesto for Valuable, Sustainable and Inclusive Tourism: a decalogue that summarizes Costa Cruises’ commitment to grow together with the territories visited by its ships, considering destinations not as a collection of tourist attractions, but as communities with which to build together a model of tourism that generates greater economic and social value, looking toward a new “renaissance” in sustainable tourism. With the presentation of the Manifesto, Costa will begin a process of sharing with institutions, associations and stakeholders in the cities, regions and countries where the company is present, to develop a dialogue and collaboration that follows the principles of the Manifesto, starting precisely with the Costa Florence itinerary. How Costa will succeed in doing this will remain to be seen.

Costa Cruises unveils the new Costa Firenze inspired by the Tuscan city. And it's controversy

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