 The Italian Line decided to withdraw "Raffaello" in April 1975, after the Italian Government announced that it would not further subsidize the ship (by 1975, it was paying 100 million lire per day, or about $151,500 at the then current exchange rate, to keep it sailing).Initially laid up in Genoa and later in La Spezia near the scrapyard, "Raffaello" and "Michelangelo" were inspected by several potential buyers such as Norwegian Cruise Line, Costa Amatori, Chandris Group, and Home Lines.The last even made a serious offer to buy the ships, despite large rebuilding costs, but the Italia Line rejected the offer.