Aboard the Italian ship Roma, Cesare and Lucia Scali welcomed their fifth child, a girl named Laura Vicenza.
Cesare, 31, and Lucia, 30, are from the Calabrian town of Caulonia.
Cesare had already migrated to Australia and now Lucia and their children will join him, settling in Adelaide.
The arrival of little Laura Vicenza made the family’s reunion all the more sweet.
Weighing three kilograms, the baby girl was baptised on the ship by the chaplain, Fr Pazzaglia, the same day she was born.
She was named Laura Vicenza in honour of her peculiar birth: Laura was inspired by the shipping company Flotta Lauro and Vicenza pays tribute to the Roma’s captain.
With mother and child both healthy, the Scali family headed from Melbourne to Adelaide by train to begin their new life.
The newborn is in all respects an Italian citizen.
In the photo (left to right): Fr Pazzaglia; Staff Captain Attanasio; Dr Cellurale; the godmother, Carmela Raschellà, with baby Laura in her arms; Cesare Scali; the godfather, Vincenzo Raschellà; Teresa Scali, 8; Damiano Scali, 3; Cosimo Scali, 5; and Eleonora Scali, 11.
Inset: New mother, Lucia Scali, with little Laura in a hospital bed on the ship.
