SicuraMente 151 Miglia: our story starts from Genoa’s ‘Lanterna’

Maybe you’ve guessed it already: Genoa’s lighthouse shall be our guide in this seventh edition of 151 Miglia- Celadrin Trophy.

We chose this lighthouse because of the symbolic power it still holds, for sailors and sea lovers alike, despite the rise in popularity of new GPS technologies and radio wave systems. A lighthouse is an icon of safety: a point of reference like no other, an attentive and keen traveling companion, a guiding light shining even in the darkest of times. It brings relief in the eyes of the sailor who’s coming to the end of a long journey.

We chose this lighthouse because it represents safety – and 151 Miglia, now in its 7^th edition, is a safe bet on success: SicuraMente – safely and certainly – 151 Miglia.

This edition of 151 Miglia began in Genoa on October 3^rd, which is where we pick up our story from. As we left the first press conference of the season, our eyes were naturally drawn to the ‘Lanterna’, the historical lighthouse of port of Genoa.

Shedding its light on a busy and hasty community of sailors, the ‘Lanterna’ is a perfect example of a functional building that has become a symbol of something bigger. Measuring nearly 250 feet, the Lanterna is the tallest lighthouse in the Mediterranean, the second in Europe after Ile Vierge’s, situated at the outmost north-west border of Brittany. It is also one of the oldest still-active lighthouses in the world.

The ‘Lanterna’ achieved legendary status soon after it was built, due to the strange stories circulating around its construction. It was rumoured that the unknown architect who designed it was thrown off the top of the lighthouse right after the tower was erected, so that he couldn’t reproduce such a miraculous building elsewhere.

Today, the ‘Lanterna’ rightfully belongs to the Genoese people, who’ve signed a petition launched by Fondazione Labò – an association of young town planners – asking to change the status of the lighthouse from public artistic/historical heritage to state-owned maritime building, in order to better match the funding demands for its maintenance.

The citizens of Genoa are paying an act of love to the symbolic heart of their city: this maternal light, protective and a little melancholic, struggling to hold back her tears every time one of her sons or daughters ventures off into the opens sea to meet their destiny. Nobody knows better than the lighthouse, how the sea giveth and the sea taketh away.

SicuraMente, the sea has in store plenty of exciting adventures for the 151 Miglia punters. We’ll tell you all about them, from now until next June.