The Andrea Doria first entranced Mr. Maviglia when he was a child. He was awestruck by pictures and postcards of the ship given to him by an uncle, who regularly sailed on the vessel. 
"We're from the sea. I've always loved ships," explains Mr. Maviglia, who sailed to Canada on the Columbia from his birthplace in Brancaleone, Italy, as an infant. But it wasn't until high school that he became interested in model making. Several years later, he decided to take on the mammoth task of replicating the Andrea Doria.

As there was no ready to assemble model of the liner, he was fortunate to obtain a copy of the original plans during a 1987 trip to Italy. He went to the Ansaldo shipyard in Sestre Ponente where the Andrea Doria was built. An engineer named Francesco Causa gave him the full plans in 1:200 scale and the hull plans in 1:100 scale, he now has plans for every berth in the vessel.

He then joined the Capital Mariner Modelers' Guild for advice on how to proceed. The 15 page plans, although detailed, only provided the ship's blueprint as originally intended, explains Mr. Maviglia. " He then turned to historical photographs to exact the finished product.

"Without photographs you don’t get the embellishment, the finishing touches, what makes it authentic" He kept a running log of the hours he spent cutting, gluing, sanding, firing and piecing together the model. Although he's pleased to have finally completed it, the accomplishment is bittersweet. "I think I have post-model depression," he jokes. "You get kind of sad, but I am proud of what I've done. The best cure is to start a new project."

That’s just what he plans to do.

The Andrea Doria model was displayed, along with 40 other naval models, at Nepean Museum in Ottawa, Canada, from April 15^th 2000 to June 30^th 2000 and by the way, the model is not for sale.