Terceira Classe
The Italian crossing to Brazil and the sinking of the Principessa Mafalda.
An unanswered question, and nine years in the archives.
Why did Rosa Forner name her daughter after the ship that nearly killed her?
The book starts from that question and spans a century: an Italy that could not feed its peasants, the business of emigration, a luxury liner demoted to carrying emigrants, the night of the shipwreck, and the lives the two sisters rebuilt in the interior of São Paulo.
It is built on documents — passenger lists, immigration records, 1927 newspapers, civil records in Italy and Brazil — and on the memory of a family that kept that night alive for three generations. Where the papers fall silent, the book says so.
The land that was not enough
1861 – 1926The Veneto after unification, the war on Monte Grappa and the two families.
The crossing
1874 – 1927Who walked up the gangway in Genoa, and what travelling third class was like.
The ship
1908 – 1928From the launch to the night of 25 October 1927, and the figures that do not add up.
Those who arrived
1927 to todayThe Hospedaria do Brás, the coffee farms, a little girl’s name and the search.
The book is in preparation.
The centenary of the shipwreck falls on 25 October 2027. To hear when the book comes out, write to us.
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