The history of Fincantieri must date back to the events of the early nineteenth century as it is the heir to the Italian shipbuilding tradition: the former Regi Italian shipyards were subjected in 1939, according to the directives given by IRI, to a radical restructuring and modernization operation of the plants to be then sold to a private company, Navalmeccanica. The Navalmeccanica logo was typical of the Fascist era: the toothed wheel and the imposing intertwining of the letters “N” and “M”.

In the 1960s, the development policy of maritime traffic caused a strong crisis in the Italian shipbuilding industry due to a lack of competitiveness. Without timely state intervention, the sector would have faced an irreversible crisis. Therefore, in 1966, the CIPE (Interministerial Committee for Economic Planning) prepared a project that led to the birth of Italcantieri; this company grouped together the three centenary tradition shipyards such as Monfalcone (Trieste), Genoa and Castellammare di Stabia (Naples). The Italcantieri logo was designed in 1980 by Paolo Bon; it reproduced the lowercase letter “i” with a skewed course like the prow of a ship, all inscribed in a circle with the lettering composed in Helvetica with some design modifications.

In 1981 the “Fincantieri Finanziaria” was born with the aim of financing and restructuring the main Italian shipyards, victims of a world market in crisis. Its logo reproduced the two letters “F” formed by two curved lines which, too, reminded the bow of the ships. In 1983, based in Trieste, the holding company was transformed into an operating company called “Fincantieri, Cantieri Navali Italiani”, reconfirming the same logo.

In 2010, the company abandons the ship-shaped letter F and decides to communicate with only the logo accompanied by underlining of blue tones and the pay off “The sea ahead”.