In May 2023 I was fortunate enough to tour Italy on a 21-day holiday that included a voyage on the Royal Clipper from Rome to Sicily (return). The Royal Clipper is a 439-ft steel-hulled five-masted clipper ship of the Star Clipper line, and registered in Malta. Today it is the largest square-rigged sailing ship in operation, anywhere in the world.
On our voyage down the Amalfi Coast our ports of call included Sorrento (with a bus excursion to Pompeii), Amalfi, the Strait of Messina and views of Mount Etna, Taormina (on the island of Sicily), Lipari (in the Aeolian Islands, north of Sicily), and on the return trip to Rome the town of Sperlonga, south of Rome and the site of Emperor Tiberius’s ancient sea grotto and the fabulous museum there.
During the voyage we were treated to a becalmed Tyrrhenian Sea so that we were rarely under sail and relied on the ship’s diesel engines. Though we did not get to experience the full sailing experience while on board, the calm sea permitted an easy climb up the rope ladder to the first crowsnest for some breathtaking views.
All photographs taken with an iPhone 13.
