GNV was created in 1992 by Aldo Grimaldi, initially as a subsidiary of
Grimaldi Group. The first ship of the company,
Majestic, entered service in 1993 on the
Genoa-
Palermo route, followed in 1994 by the sistership
Splendid on the Genoa-
Porto Torres route.
Majestic and
Splendid were the first
cruiseferries ever operated by an Italian company. The fleet was enlarged with new cruise ferries through the 1990s, and in 2000 the company went public. New routes were added, including
Livorno-Palermo, Genoa-
Olbia and Genoa-
Barcelona. In 2002 and 2003 the new, large cruise ferries
La Superba and
La Suprema entered service. Lines for
Tunisia, as well a new
Civitavecchia-Palermo line, were opened. In 2008 the fleet was enlarged with three
ro-ro cargo ships,
Audacia,
Tenacia, and
Coraggio, and a new Genoa-Barcelona-
Tangier line was opened. In 2009, GNV became fully independent from the Grimaldi family and Grimaldi Group. In 2010 the company was acquired by the
MSC Group; in the same year, GNV merged with
SNAV, also a subsidiary of MSC. In 2012, following the ceasing of the services by
Comarit and
Comanav, GNV opened new lines between
Sète, Tangier and
Nador. In 2015, GNV opened a new line between Italy and Albania. The company, , currently operates a fleet of thirteen cruise ferries, including some of the
largest ferries in Europe. Its CEO is Matteo Catani. == Coronavirus pandemic ==