The Costa Diadema is set to depart from Genoa later today, becoming the second Costa ship to return into service under a number of new health and safety protocols.

The Costa Diadema’s itinerary includes calls at Italian ports and is reserved for guests resident in Italy. After Genoa, her next ports of call will be Civitavecchia/Rome, Naples, Palermo, Cagliari and La Spezia.

“Genoa welcomes with great joy the departure of the first Costa Cruises ship from Liguria. Costa Diadema journey in the western Mediterranean represents a tangible sign of recovery of one of the fundamental supply chains for the economy of our city. Once again, Genoa will be the home port of many Costa calls, bringing new tourists to discover our city. The future has to be written, but I’m sure we will come back even stronger than before,” said Mayor of Genoa Marco Bucci.

“At last Costa’s cruises are back in Genoa and Liguria, which has been our home for over 70 years. We’re setting sail again gradually and responsibly, with safety protocols that are unrivalled in the tourism industry. The initial response from our guests has been most encouraging,” said Group CEO, Costa Group & Carnival Asia Michael Thamm.

“As Europe’s number one cruise company, we have a responsibility to turn this difficult situation into an opportunity to come back stronger than ever, and to continue to develop the tourism and economic ecosystem of the destinations. We want to do it in close cooperation with all our stakeholders and we believe that Liguria has a leading role to play with us in becoming a model for others to follow based on four cornerstones: state-of-the-art infrastructures, like the new passenger terminals in Genoa and La Spezia; sustainable innovation, to improve environmental performance in ports, such as shore power, LNG; improved destination management and tourism development to better respond to the needs of today’s travelers and expand our value creation capabilities; and support to the social needs of the community, for which we are committed through our Costa Crociere Foundation.”

Liguria is featuring prominently in Costa’s return to cruising, with a total of around 80 calls in this part of north-west Italy between now and the end of the 2020-2021 winter season.

From October 10 Savona will be the Costa Smeralda in Savona, which will be offering one-week cruise holidays in the Western Mediterranean. After a series of cruises intended for the French market, from November the Costa Diadema will also be moving to Savona, for 12-day cruises to the Canary Islands and 14-day cruises to Egypt and Greece.

The Costa Firenze, the new ship under construction at Fincantieri’s Marghera yard, will make her debut on December 27, again sailing in the Western Mediterranean, and calling at Genoa and La Spezia every week.

Meanwhile, from October 22 to mid-December La Spezia will see the arrival of the AIDAblu, operated by AIDA Cruises, sailing seven-day cruises to Italian ports.

Costa’s cruises sailing on or after September 27 will be available for all European citizens who are residents in any of the countries listed in the most recent Prime Ministerial Decree.