Raffaele Rubattino was born in Genoa on 10 October 1810 in a family of business people. He started a transport business in 1833 between Genoa and Milan and then merged it with the business of Gavino and Lazzaro Rebizzo. In 1843 he began a steamboat service in the Mediterranean with two small vessels, "Castore" and "Polluce". The latter collided with the "Mongebella". He then built larger ships: "Cagliari", "Piemonte", and "Lombardo". The latter two carried Garibaldi and his men to Marsala in 1860.