The Costa Fascinosa, the latest ship to join the fleet of Costa Cruises (www.costacruise.com), Italy’s largest tourism group and Europe’s no. 1 cruise company, today touched the water for the first time during her technical launch ceremony at the Fincantieri shipyard in Marghera.

Once the work to fit out her interiors has been completed, the Costa Fascinosa (114,500 gross tonnage and a total capacity of 3,800 passengers) will depart on her first cruise on 2nd May 2012. About 3,000 employees and 7,000 workers from linked industries are contributing to the construction of the ship, and most of the companies involved in the shipbuilding activities, about 500, are Italian. Costa Cruises’s total investment to build the Costa Fascinosa amounts to approximately 510 million euros.

The Costa Fascinosa’s technical launch ceremony was carried out according to seafaring tradition. The launch started with the welding of a coin at the base of what was once the mainmast, a custom considered to bring good luck. Then, the shipyard director invited the godmother, Mirca Pizzato, an employee of Marghera shipyards, to cut the ribbon and break a bottle of champagne against the bow of the Costa Fascinosa. Once the dry-dock basin where the ship took shape over the last few months had been filled with water, the hull finally had the chance to touch the sea for the first time.