PIOMBINO – Today, the “Keel Laying” ceremony for the new oceanographic vessel Arcadia, destined for the Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale (ISPRA), was held at the Piombino Industrie Marittime (PIM) shipyards. A symbolic gesture, accompanied by the traditional rite of laying the coins, officially marked the start of the ship’s construction, entrusted to the T. Mariotti shipyard, part of the Genova Industrie Navali Group.
The coin ceremony, an ancient tradition of shipbuilding, involves placing coins under the ship’s keel as a wish for a good voyage and protection for the crew and those who will work on board. A simple but meaningful gesture, which for centuries has accompanied the birth of every new vessel and, in this case, a ship destined to study the very sea that supports it.
Approximately 70 meters long and equipped with cutting-edge technologies, Arcadia will be a new-generation scientific platform for the study and protection of the sea. Thanks to autonomous underwater vehicles (ROV) capable of operating at depths of up to 4,000 meters, modular laboratories, and spaces dedicated to researchers, the ship will allow for monitoring, mapping, and research missions on marine and coastal ecosystems, contributing to the knowledge of the deep seabed and the protection of biodiversity.
The project is part of the PNRR MER – Mission 2 “Green Revolution and Ecological Transition,” the largest national program dedicated to safeguarding the sea and strengthening environmental research. For ISPRA, it represents a strategic investment and a responsibility: to put science and knowledge at the service of the country, strengthening the capacity to observe, understand, and protect the Mediterranean in a context of climate change and ecological transition.
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Arcadia will not only be a research vessel, but a mobile knowledge laboratory, a platform open to collaboration with universities, research institutions, and the international scientific community. It will explore areas of the Mediterranean that have been little known until now, providing the country with new tools of knowledge to protect the environment and future generations.
The construction of the Arcadia will be carried out in the production areas of Piombino, in collaboration with PIM, enhancing national skills and synergies in the advanced shipbuilding sector. A ship born from the collaboration between public institutions and industry, which will place the sea at the center of Italian scientific research, as a space for knowledge, innovation, and the future.
