Facade portrait: Remo Gugliemi

Remo Gugliemi

* 1969 in Civitavecchia / Italy

Immigration to Bremerhaven: 1992

Remo Gugliemi was born in 1969 in Civitavecchia, a port city near Rome. His fascination with the sea, maritime cities, and the high mobility they represent sparked within him the desire to train as a ship mechanic in the Italian Navy. After his training in Sardinia, he joined the Amerigo Vespucci, the training sailing ship of the Italian Navy home-ported in La Spezia.

Amerigo Vespucci

Remo Gugliemi, 1990

“I was a career soldier, and my plans were to marry the Navy. I didn’t expect to end up in a port city: Bremerhaven.”

During a shore leave in 1990 – when the large tall ship gathering SAIL took place – he met his future wife in the Bremerhaven nightclub Enterprise. They kept in touch, and Remo Gugliemi spent his next vacation in the coastal city. The young woman from Bremerhaven later visited him in Italy shortly thereafter: what was supposed to be three weeks, as announced to her parents, turned into almost two years of stay. However, Remo Gugliemi’s profession, characterized by long absences, stood in the way of the young couple’s future plans. In October 1992, they moved their primary residence back to Bremerhaven. By January of the following year, Remo was employed at the Weser ferry. He is enthusiastic about the work there, describing the North Mole and South Mole as his new home.

In 1998 and 2009, two sons followed, who are growing up bilingual. The family travels to Italy annually, with few exceptions. For their later years, Remo Gugliemi and his wife can imagine a second residence in Italy.