The Augustea Group is owned and controlled by the Cafiero, a family originally from Meta di Sorrento, a small town of shipowners and seafarers situated in the Bay of Naples, whose shipping interests date back to the 17th century.  Historically, Sorrento has always been an important shipping centre: since early Greek and Roman times adventurous people, from this area, navigated the Mediterranean and even beyond.

Over the centuries, the Sorrento  shipping community  thus became an economic pillar  of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and, later, of the Italian maritime industry. The Cafiero family shipping interests go back to 1629, when Pietrantonio Cafiero established a charitable fund for the release of sailors captured by pirates.  Today, another member of the family, Pietrantonio Cafiero, ocean-going master, is member of  the board of Augustea and general manager of tug operations in Augusta. Early in the 19th century Salvatore Cafiero founded the local Sailors' Mutual Society and became director of the "Steamship Navigation Company of the Sorrento Peninsula".  In 1850, the shipping interests of the Cafiero family were entered into Lloyd's Register.

In 1955 Salvatore Cafiero, Captain with Lauro’s fleet and for many years in charge of the chartering department, founded the company “Augustea” to participate in the development of the petrochemical ports of Augusta and Syracuse, in the eastern coast of Sicily.

In 1964, Salvatore Cafiero added the deep-sea shipping business at the towing activities and continued to develop both businesses until he died in 1982.
The generation that followed consolidated and expanded his work.
Today, Mr. Lucio Zagari is the Chairman and Mr. Raffaele Zagari is the Group Chief Executive Officer.