It is the first step for the effective unification of the two divisions of the Navy School (the Royal Academy of Marina di Napoli and the Royal Military School of Marina di Genova) in a single institute destined to heal the undiminished antagonism between the two souls of the Navy crowning the auspices: of the first Cavour and the work of the admiral Persano, when minister in November of the 1862 presented his project, after. However, they will pass three years before the inauguration and the beginning of the first course.
The choice of setting up a single school in Livorno was designed both to prevent one of the pre-unification navies from being privileged and therefore to create further friction; both for the central geographical position of Tuscany; both for the region where the Italian language was best spoken and the proximity to the University of Pisa. The proposal was unanimously approved both by the Superior Council of Marina and by the parliamentary commission in charge which, at the end of their report, concluded: “… the environment therefore presents itself in the best way to initiate the new Italian maritime tradition”.
[Cavour in office as minister, with the idea of building a new school in the largest seaport in Tuscany in mind, sent on April 17, 1861 a letter to the Command of the Northern Maritime Department of Genoa in which he expressed: "it would be the intention of Minister to merge the two Schools of Naples and Genoa, keeping them both, to divide all pupils among them, by reason of the body to which they belong. I will ask the Admiral to express his opinion on the matter ". Generally speaking, the setting of the two schools differed in the sense that that of Naples gave the officers a greater theoretical preparation, while that of Genoa gave more importance to practice; therefore the Bourbon officers were more educated while the Sardinian ones had a remarkable ability in the practical field]
Source: Military Navy
(in the photo the academy in 1931)
