Alessandro Cialdi

[3] In the late 1830s he was taken into the government service of the Papal States, initially as a pilot on the San Pietro while it patrolled the Mediterranean for cases of cholera that was causing many deaths in a Rome at the time.

After this he led a mission on the La Madonna delle Grazie to convey 119 political prisoners to Bahia as part of a plan to establish a new colony in Brazil.

[4] In September 1840, now promoted to captain in the Papal navy, Cialdi, was put in command of an expedition to Egypt to collect two alabaster obelisks that were a gift from Muhammad Ali and intended for the rebuilding of Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls.

[4][2] The following year he was sent to England to collect and deliver three small paddle-steamers purchased by the Papal States that were to be used to haul shipping up the Tiber to Rome[5] - until then this had been done using oxen.

Such was the devotion inspired by the sight of the papal flag in France’s remote villages that people held competitions for the honour of pulling on the ropes to bring them safely through.

[4] During the First Italian War of Independence, Cialdi was ordered to sail one of the paddle-steamers, renamed the Roma, to Ancona on the Adriatic, and then to join the Royal Sardinian Navy in its mission to defend against Austrian attacks.

When the Papal States were absorbed into the Kingdom of Italy in 1870, Cialdi remained in command of the single paddle-steamer, the Immacolata Concezione, retained for the Pope’s use, although he never in fact set foot on it.