Hi Jordi,

EUGENIO DI SAVOIA carrying 304 passengers (from VITTORIO VENETO and ITALIA as you wrote) was on passage unescorted from Suez to Italy by following the North African coast as far as Ras El Tin (Libya). While at sea, she received orders to go to Taranto but did not have enough fuel to do so and was going to Punta Stilo to refuel when she was mined at 1123/29.02.1944. The cruiser was navigating by dead reckoning because of covered skies so the exact position is not listed but it is believed that she entered the Catanzaro minefield (I assume that this was the one laid by the cruisers LUIGI CADORNA and SCIPIONE AFRICANO on 11 August 1943 and that it may not have been in the exact position). Her speed reduced to 7 knots, she reached Augusta at 0859/01.03.1944. No casualties are mentioned in the report by the commanding officer C.V. Carlo Talarigo. He also mentioned the possibility it was a minefield laid by a U-boat but there were none AFAIK.

Platon