On Thursday, July 31, 2025, the Italian company Fincantieri – Cantieri Navali Italiani announced that the day before, a handover ceremony had taken place at its shipyard in Muggiano, in the municipality of La Spezia, marking the delivery of the last and tenth ordered Carlo Bergamini-class FREMM (Frégate Européenne Multi-Mission) missile frigate, ITS Emilio Bianchi (F 589), to the Italian Navy (Marina Militare).
Photos: Fincantieri – Cantieri Navali Italiani
The handover was carried out by the joint venture company Orizzonte Sistemi Navali (Fincantieri 51% and Leonardo 49%) on behalf of the contracting authority, the Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR – Organisation conjointe de coopération en matière d’armement).
The ceremony was attended by, among others, Fincantieri’s General Manager of the Naval Vessels Division Dario Deste, CEO of Orizzonte Sistemi Navali (OSN) Giovanni Sorrentino, OCCAR Director Joachim Sucker, Commander of the Northern Maritime Command of the Italian Navy Rear Admiral Flavio Biaggi, Director of the Naval Armament Directorate of the Italian Navy (NAVARM) Inspector General Vice Admiral Giuseppe Abbamonte, and Deputy Chief of Staff of the Italian Navy Admiral Giuseppe Berutti Bergotto.
The new vessel, built at Fincantieri’s shipyards in Riva Trigoso and Muggiano, is equipped with state-of-the-art systems produced by Fincantieri, Leonardo, MBDA, and Elettronica. Like other FREMM units, it offers high operational flexibility and is capable of operating in all tactical scenarios. The ship is 144 meters long, 19.7 meters wide, and has a full displacement of approximately 6,700 tons. It can reach speeds of over 27 knots and accommodate up to 200 crew members on board.
The Franco-Italian FREMM program, launched in 2005, originally envisioned the delivery of 18 ships, 8 for France and 10 for Italy. Italy’s deliveries began in July 2012 and include four general-purpose (GP) frigates, four anti-submarine warfare (IT-ASW) frigates, and two multi-role (GP-e) frigates. Earlier this year, on April 15, Italy received the ITS Spartaco Schergat (F 598).
But that’s not the end. On July 31, 2024, Orizzonte Sistemi Navali received an order worth approximately 1.5 billion EUR from OCCAR on behalf of the Italian Ministry of Defence for the construction of two frigates under the FREMM EVO program (Progettazione, sviluppo e acquisizione di n. 2 unità navali di tipo fregate FREMM di nuova generazione). The first steel was cut for the initial ship on April 3 of this year, and the keel was laid on July 8. Deliveries of both vessels are scheduled for 2029 and 2030.
The purchase is related to Italy’s earlier sale of two FREMM frigates to Egypt (Al-Galala and Bernees), which interestingly were originally intended to be named Spartaco Schergat and Emilio Bianchi. Additionally, the Egyptian government had previously acquired one FREMM frigate from France (Tahya Misr). Morocco also ordered one ship (Mohammed VI), and in the United States, Constellation-class frigates, based on the FREMM design, are being built, with 6 out of 20 planned ships already ordered.
At our shipyard in Muggiano, the multi-role frigate “Emilio Bianchi” was delivered to the Italian Navy. This is the tenth unit of the FREMM (European Multi-Mission Frigates) class commissioned from Orizzonte Sistemi Navali as part of the Italy-France international cooperation… pic.twitter.com/vGQrdFUD35
— Fincantieri (@Fincantieri) July 31, 2025