Ralph Taverniti, 91, was an apprentice tailor in his early 20s, but his future was bleak as his Italian homeland struggled to rebuild from the carnage of World War II. Opportunity awaited in Brooklyn, where his father’s uncle, also a tailor, offered work. So, in 1956 Taverniti booked third-class passage to New York City on a new luxury ocean liner, the SS Andrea Doria.