The Gulf of Naples, a Sailors' Haven
In Roman times the gulf of Naples was considered a world-leading maritime centre.
As of the 11th century, the main Italian maritime centres are Venice, Genoa, Pisa and, particularly for the south of Italy, Amalfi.
Somewhat later and for the centuries to follow, the Gulf of Salerno will occupy a dominant place in sea trade, involving in its activity the inhabitants of the nearby peninsula of Sorrento, which encloses the south-east side of the Bay of Naples, an area of great maritime traditions that go back to the Greeks.
Sorrento itself was probably founded by the Greeks: in fact, according to the legend of Ulysses, it was at Capri that he encountered the sirens.
The "piano" or plain of Sorrento constitutes the central part of the Sorrento peninsula.
Of the four towns that lie on the plain, Meta di Sorrento is the one that, throughout history, has produced the greatest number of dedicated seafarers.
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The Company Today |
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Augustea S.p.A., a Family
Firm of International
Dimensions
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Thanks to the impulse given by Salvatore Cafiero, Augustea S.p.A. is today an international shipping group whose business is world wide.
The fleet ranges from tugs, barges and ocean-going vessels plying the major global trade routes.
Augustea tug activities include harbour service, deep-sea towage and deep-sea barge transportation.
The Augustea fleet of ocean-going vessels transports essentially (90%) dry freight (coal, ferrous ores, grains, phosphates). All aspects of deep-sea vessel operations are covered by the group.
The head office is located in Naples, the harbour operations directorate in Augusta (Sicily), the cargo fleet has its commercial office in London and its operational office in Buenos Aires, while the deep sea towage commercial and technical office is in Farnham (UK).
Since 1980, the company, which has a long record of highly risky salvage operations, is a member of the International Salvage Union which brings together ocean salvage professionals.
Augustea’s fleet has been awarded the highest grade by International Classification Societies and in 1997 the company complied promptly with the International Safety Management (ISM) Code.
The Augustea Group has obtained ISO 9001 certification for its maritime transport activity.
Today, Augustea S.p.A. owns more than 50 vessels, controls another 30 ocean-going vessels and employs some 700 people, the most of whom are crew members.
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Key Dates of the
Company's History |
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1629
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Pietro Antonio Cafiero Devoted his Life to the Rescue of Sailors
Cafiero is one of the most frequently encountered names among the citizens of Meta, many of whom were ship-owners, ships' captains and sailors.
We have unmistakable traces of the Cafiero and of their maritime transport activities and interest in navigators via the creation, in 1629, by Pietro Antonio Cafiero, of a mutual aid fund the 'Monte della S.S. Annunziata dei Cafiero' whose purpose was to rescue and help sailors taken prisoner by the Muslim pirates.
This vocation of the Cafieros for the maritime businesses will culminate, ten generations later, with "Augustea” a company in the service of the sea and which was created with the family funds by a descendant of Pietro Antonio.
Pietro Antonio Cafiero had four children, one of them named Salvatore. From this period on, all the first-born in the Cafiero family, will be named alternatively, Salvatore and Pietro Antonio and, all of them, will be involved in sea transport.
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XIXth
| The Cafieros Follow in the Footsteps of their Ancestors
In the first years of the 19th century, a Salvatore Cafiero created, like his ancestor, a mutual aid fund, the "Plain of Sorrento Maritime Insurance and Exchange Company", before becoming, in 1826, the manager of the "Sorrento Peninsula Steamship Company".
His son, bearing the same name Salvatore, was born in 1833. He owned four wooden brigs, three of which sailed under the command of three of his sons. One of them, Pietro Antonio, (1873 to 1930) was actively engaged in Meta in promoting sea trade and training sea-going personnel. He was also active in banking and in public affairs. He married Maria Laura Lauro and had five children, two of which, Leopoldo and Salvatore, went into maritime careers and rose to the rank of captain of ocean-going vessels. It is in the middle of the 19th century, in 1850, that the financial interests of the Cafiero family in the maritime trade were recorded in the Register of Lloyd's.
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XXth
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Salvatore Cafiero Gives a New impetus to the Maritime Activities of the Cafieros
Salvatore Cafiero, the son of Pietro Antonio and of Maria Laura Lauro, was born in Meta di Sorrento in 1909. He is the one who, in 1955, will give the name of “Augustea” to the maritime businesses initiated by the generations of Cafiero which preceded him.
Holding a diploma of long-haul ship's captain, he went on to become, from World War II through 1964, Captain of the fleet of Achillo Lauro, the well-known ship-owner.
Meanwhile, in 1955, he founded “Augustea” a harbour tug company devoted to towing in the port of Augusta, (Italy's leading petrochemical port of call, located between Siracusa and Catania), integrating in “Augustea” the Cafiero family's financial interests recorded in the Register of Lloyd's and became, at the same time, majority shareholder of two other Sicilian companies.
In 1964 he inherited the ocean-going fleet of his uncle Angelo Scinicariello.
At the time of his death in 1982, Salvatore Cafiero's ship and tug business was developing strongly and foreshadowed the future of the company “Augustea”.
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