(ANSA) – ROSOLINA (ROVIGO), 09 AUG - The Goletta Verde sailing ship “Oloferne” met and greeted its “big sister” Catholica at sea off the island of Albarella (Rovigo), the vessel that since 1993 was the first Goletta Verde to sail the Mediterranean Sea together with the environmentalist association, and which after 25 years of service gave way to it.
After three years of restoration by local craftsmen, with the contribution of the Cariparo Foundation and the Veneto Region, the Catholica is back in operation with a dual activity, thanks to the Go LAB Foundation. It hosts environmental education workshops in Albarella while supporting the scientific research activity of the Cert-Cetacean strandings Emergency Response Team of the University of Padua.
For Giulia Bacchiega, vice president of Legambiente Veneto, “the meeting, not only symbolic, between the two historic schooners is an opportunity to reaffirm the commitment that Legambiente has been carrying out for more than 40 years to protect the sea and the Italian coasts. Also in Veneto Goletta Verde has denounced and contributed to stopping abuses and outrages that have threatened the territory, from the industrial pollution of Porto Marghera to the former Enel power plant of Porto Tolle to the more recent one against plastics and microplastics. Today, in this territory, one of the most important wetlands in Europe and a Unesco MaB Biosphere Reserve, we find ourselves having to face the serious effects of climate change such as the rising salt wedge and the increase in water temperatures.”
The Schooner Catholica, which owes its name to the city of origin of its owners, was built in 1936. Born as a work boat, then transformed into a fishing vessel, during World War II it was seized by the Germans who used it to transport munitions to the Yugoslavian coasts, and then abandoned it. Tracked down and brought back to Italy, in 1990 Catholica was decommissioned and taken to Rimini for demolition. Here, however, it was purchased and renovated thanks to a social project for the recovery of drug addicts.
Finally acquired by Legambiente, the vessel continues its commitment to the third sector and has been the protagonist of Goletta Verde’s summer campaigns since 1993. (ANSA).