My father put me on a tanker when I was seven,” says Paolo d'Amica, owner of the 125ft Castagnola Angra Too, and thirdgeneration ship owner. “I was on board for a month. We had an old master running the ship who was extremely worried about where I was going, because having a seven-year-old kid running around the ship is not exactly the safest thing to do, but itwas fon because I was living with the crew. I learned about what a ship is, what a commercial ship is, and what life on board is like. It was a great experience.”
The Rome-based businessman has spent his professional life building his way up to executive chairman of his father's shipping company, d'Amico International Shipping, where he's worked since 1971. As one of the most powerful executives in Italian shipping, he's also vice-chairman of the International Association of Independent Tanker Owners (INTERANKO) and a member of the council of the Italian Shipowners Association. So far, so commercial.
Despite growing up in the landlocked capital of
