Costa Cruises Celebrates 75th Anniversary

Costa Cruises will celebrate its 75th anniversary with a series of events set from the 19th to the 27th of October in Genoa, where the company’s history began in 1948, with the maiden voyage of the “Anna C,” the company’s first passenger ship.

On the evening of Friday, 20 October, Costa will grace the city with a never-before-seen-in-Italy show: the Monumental Tour. The public event begins at 8:45 p.m. at Piazza Matteotti and will feature a show combining electronic music, cultural heritage, and digital art created by French DJ and producer Michael Canitrot.

The Monumental Tour originated from combining cities’ cultural legacy with modern technology, rediscovering landmarks from a new perspective thanks to electronic music played live by DJs and immersive arrangements combining light shows and video-mapping.

Palazzo Ducale was chosen as the monument for this event. The palace’s main façade, which overlooks Piazza Matteotti, will stunningly come to life with an image and light show-themed Genoa, her history, and the sea. At the same time, spectators dance to the enthralling rhythm of electronic music.

The Monumental Tour will be preceded by a cocktail party on the Costa Toscana, Costa Cruises’ flagship that visits Genoa every Friday in collaboration with Vanity Fair Italia. An Italian chef, Bruno Barbieri, will curate the food, complemented by Ferrari Trento wines, each with a personalised label for the special event.

A dazzling red carpet will be aboard to commemorate the occasion in style, where visitors may walk the runway and become the stars of a unique photo session. The evening will conclude with a special performance by renowned Italian artist Malika Ayane, who will be performing on board the Costa Toscana for the occasion.

The 75th-anniversary celebration program also includes an initiative that supports the Community of Sant’Egidio, a crucial local organisation that assists needy persons. Costa Cruises’ chefs will prepare a special lunch for roughly 150 Community guests on Thursday, 19 October, in the cloister of the Basilica of Santissima Annunziata, with the participation of chef Bruno Barbieri. Since 2015, the Costa Crociere Foundation has been supporting the community of Sant’Egidio as part of a food assistance project that has distributed about 1 million meals.

Angelo Pintus, an Italian comedian, will perform his act at the Politeama Genovese Theatre on Monday, 23 October at 9:00 p.m. The entire evening’s proceedings will be donated to Genoa’s Gaslini Paediatric Hospital. Costa will double the sum, including a gift equivalent to the evening’s earnings.

On Friday, 27 October, a group of young patients from the Gaslini Hospital and their families will board Costa Toscana in Genoa for a day of discovery on the Italian company’s flagship, with special entertainment activities and a lunch created especially for them.

Finally, Costa will be the brand sponsor of the 40th annual meeting of ANCI, the National Association of Italian Municipalities, held from 24 – 26 October at the Blue Pavillion of the Genoa Fair. As part of this event, on 25 October, Costa will organise a workshop dedicated to ‘Guardiani della Costa,’ the Costa Crociere Foundation’s national environmental education and “citizen science” program for Italian students.

“Throughout all these years, day after day, Costa has been taking millions of guests on cruises around the world, sharing the happy and unforgettable moments of their holidays. On this special anniversary, our desire is to share equally unique emotions with the city of Genoa through a magnificent show in one of the city’s most iconic squares. However, Costa also aims to maintain its role as a responsible member of the Genoese community, where our company originated, by bringing smiles and tangible assistance to those most in need,” – said Mario Zanetti, President of Costa Cruises.