Sunday 1st October 2017
The second day of our weekend started with breakfast in the Panorama Restaurant in our SAM Hotel in Monfalcone. The Hotel accurately described it as a room on the top floor, where glass walls and ceilings guarantee superb views. The sun shone down again from a cloudless blue sky, and we could see the two MSC ships in the Fincantieri shipyard beyond some trees and rooftops. We could also see the white-painted Water Tower that was so noticeable yesterday.
We checked out of our rooms, admired several items in the Reception area, and returned to the hire car in the street outside.
Our next plan was to visit the Museo Cantieristica Monfalcone (known as MuCa), which was in a restored building very near to the entrance to the Fincantieri shipyard.
It is located on the ground floor of a building originally conceived in 1920 as accommodation for unmarried workers not living in Monfalcone but working at the shipyard. It was bombed in the war, but in 2010 it was restored and developed; it is located in the Panzano district, known as the 'company town' and originally built on the initiative of the Cosulich family. The Museum was only opened earlier this year, 2017.
The MuCa exhibition is divided into 4 Thematic Areas:
* The city, the housing, social services, wars
* The yards, the entrepreneurs, the companies
* The factory labour
* Ships, collateral production, the corporate image
and we enjoyed seeing many of the details around the exhibition route. There were some wonderful and beautiful pieces of artwork in the rooms.
I have many memories from the visit, including watching and admiring the very deft handling by my friend of one of the cranes used at the shipyard. From a central control station the visitor can 'pilot' the crane, lift and put cargo on the deck of a ship, move along the dock and observe the famous SATURNIA motor ship still under construction. It was not as easy as it looked!
After that visit, we headed for local viewing areas so we could take photographs of the two new MSC ships in the Fincantieri shipyard.
To be continued...